Boundary of three worlds
by ItzABlueWulf
Summary: When the JSDF is deployed in the Special Region they find creatures that were thought to belong only to legends. Little do they know that similar beings are much closer to them that what they expect and they aren't pleased with the opening of the Gate. Rated T for future content.
1. When Worlds Collide

Lieutenant General Hazama wasn't happy, he hadn't been for the last two months; two months prior he was planning to take some day off in order to properly celebrate his nephew admission to Tokyo University, thinking already about joining with his nephew parents at a mountain house they owned, when the unthinkable happened.

The Ginza Incident.

Once the dust had finally settled over the tragedy and people began to realize they have been attacked by an army that came out of a gate appeared out of nowhere, politicians were quick to plan what they called a mission in the name of justice, their opposition called a vengeful retribution and many in the international community thought of as a ploy to relive the glory of Imperial Japan; the only thing that meant to him was that he would be in charge of the JSDF soldiers deployed in what had been newly named as Special Region, he would have to take care all the trouble that came with the position and he never had a chance to join any kind of celebration for the success of his nephew.

The last two months had been a logistic nightmare after another, result of decades of Japan inactivity when it came to matters of war, and he soon found himself drowning in a sea of paperwork; of course it didn't help how his office was continuously assaulted by phone calls of every sort of nuisance, be it some army supplier trying to obtain some advantage in the upcoming operation or just weirdos confident to have invaluable piece of information. In the regard to the latter he was honestly surprised by the amount of occultists that claimed over the media that this wasn't an isolated case, citing as proof various unresolved case of missing people, old legend about hidden lands, some anomalies reported by telephone companies regarding the supposed momentarily disappearance of repeating tower and lastly some recent sightings of flash of lights and flying objects in the night skies that had been dismissed as alcohol induced hallucination.

While most sensible people had ignored such claims, there was always a religious fanatic or a conspiracy theorist who would gladly take seriously those questionable informations to add fuel to the fire of their own crusade and cause in turn an even bigger news-storm ready to strike them all; because of that there had been already three official announcement from their own expert that neither the apocalypse was coming nor was the military conducting any supernatural experiment, which repercussion only generated even more paperwork for him to deal with. In short his patience had been thinning each day a little more and he was dangerously close to snap at the first chance to relieve himself. That day could be closer than he expected.

"Yanagida, I must have heard wrong, so could you please repeat the content of that letter?" he asked barely restraining his irritation, while looking straight at one of his newly appointed officers.

"I believe there's no need for that Sir, said content it's exactly what it sounds like."

"So you're telling me..." he then had to force down a grumble "You're telling me that after stressing for so long how this operation will involve only the strictly necessary personnel, about how as of now there will be only a military presence with no other organization, be it national or international involved..." he suddenly found particularly hard to not shout in face of the sheer absurdity of the situation "You're telling that now they want us to take a scientist along with us?"

"Just as I told you, you do seem to have grasped the correct meaning of this letter Sir."

"But why? Why now of all time? I could understand if this was asked a month after we took a secure hold in the Special Region, maybe even a couple of weeks later, but why asking us a month before the whole ordeal even begins?"

"Well, according to the documentation that followed this request, they thought her field of study could be helpful in the upcoming operations."

"And what would that be?"

"Apparently she has graduated as anthropologist of religions at Tokyo University, with a specialization in polytheistic and animistic culture and their influence over the development of society. The thesis of her doctorate was the relationship between cultural changes and folklore in Japan between the Heian and Meiji eras."

"So why do the higher ups think we might need someone like that?"

"Officially they think that in order to fully understand the inhabitants of the Special Region we need to have first a good grasp of their cultural and religious beliefs, so that we may avoid any cause of friction between us before it can come up."

"And unofficially?" he asked.

This question seemed to have troubled Yanagida, since he took some time before answering it, going as far as readjusting his glasses on his nose more than a few times in a row. Finally he managed to talk back: "What transpired during the Ginza Incident has left some of them concerned and the reports of the scouts we sent trough the Gate didn't make them feel any more at ease. Surely, you are aware of how some of our troops are dealing with the news regarding our mission, Sir ."

Hazama simply grunted in response, he did heard about how there had been at the local stores surrounding the base a sudden spike in anything that could provide any kind of knowledge related to a fantasy setting, from classic such as Tolkien's books to more modern anime and manga. But to think even those sitting in the seats of power would go as far as fall into the same line of thought was unbelievable.

"You couldn't be possibly be telling me that they think someone who can list all the reason why people came up with the idea of a dragon can tell us how to kill them faster, do you?"

"Is not only that, each day more and more hints come up suggesting that what we saw here could have happened before. Based on their study on the POWs, our linguists think that the language spoken by them might be of indo-european roots, the first medical results seems to confirm that our shared genetic pool is the same there would be between people living on different continents and finally the fact that medieval Europe had been telling of legends of dragons, ogres and many other creatures similar to the one we encountered for century doesn't help either."

Yanagida took a moment to let those words sink in before pressing on: " In short they believe that based on this evidences there's the possibility that said legends might be what people witnessed when this Gate opened before and as such they think that having knowledge of those tales might be just as good as having a guide book regarding the local fauna. You surely can see the advantage of such a thing if it was to be proven true, Sir."

"If that's the case why employ only one of those scientist, don't they think having more of them would be a more sensible choice?"

"That would be surely a perfect scenario, unfortunately we don't have such luck. Despite recognizing the need, the higher ups are still overly cautious about this after all, if what we're facing internationally and even within our own homeland is anything to go by, the risk of a saboteur or a mole are quite high when it comes to civil personnel. Their candidate on the other hand, apart from being an exceptional Japanese citizen, didn't get involved with any known movement under the watch of National Security, never got the attention of the police forces and even got a recommendation from a enlistment officer from Nagano Prefecture. Of course they made even further research but they still believe it's the best they can get while still maintaining an acceptable degree of safety."

"And what about you?"

"I'm sorry Sir?" Yanagida replied seemingly confused.

"Yanagida, don't play dumb with me, you've been appointed as our intelligence officer, all about your dossier seems to indicate that you're too much of a perfectionist to simply blindly accept an order such as this without some research of your own and I known you're the kind of man that would be ecstatic if given the chance to point out a blatant mistake if committed by a superior officer. So I'm asking again, what do you think of this?"

For a moment he seemed to be gathering his thoughts, then he took a folder from the middle of the pile he was carrying, he adjusted his glasses and began to read from the pages in front of him.

"Nothing much really stands out about her, grown in a middle class family, the father was a employee of a local branch of a internet services society, nothing more than office work, the mother owned a small shop in the neighborhood. The mother family is more interesting since her grandfather was an American soldier stationed in Japan but even then there's nothing much of notice. Seems like she passed through high-school with good grades, although she didn't join any club activity, then she was admitted to Tokyo University and from there her story looks like the tale of every other model student." He closed the folder before looking at Hazama once again, wearing a slightly annoyed expression.

"So in other words there's nothing suspicious about her?"

"In other words Sir, western ancestry and academic success aside, she looks like a cardboard cut-out, nothing one should worry about but neither anything that can make her stands out too much; I know all the documents are alright and there's no sign of adulteration, but this looks so much like the profile one would give to an infiltrator that is not even funny."

"But you still decided to go with the flow." Hazama replied, pointing out something that didn't match with the outburst he just heard.

"Yes, I'm going with the flow because for each piece of information about her there are at least two witness to confirm it and because an officer of the JSDF took upon himself to make a written recommendation to open the door to her. She even went as far as going through our training just to prove her conviction and to be as less of a weight as possible once she will be deployed with us, the drill sergeant responsible for her evaluation said that if she did have more time she could become Ranger material, as I said everything about her seems to be handmade to fit with our need." He briefly made a wordless sigh before continuing "But as I said before I don't think we can easily have this much luck on our side."

General Hazama, briefly nodded, he could understand those concerns, however giving them any more weight could have been seen as being paranoid given the amount of proves that hinted against Yanagida's worries being anything more that conjectures. And so he finally came up with an adequate answer.

"Alright, if they think we should do this I don't see any reason to not do so. However..." he added cutting off Yanagida reply "I want you to keep an eye on her, maybe even ask further about her past. Just because they didn't found anything wrong, it doesn't mean we can't practice some caution."

"Very well. If that the case I don't think my presence is required for the moment." He then left the folder in his hand over the desk before making his way out of the office, still wearing a satisfied smirk.

Just as he was about to resume his work Hazama realized he didn't even ask the name of the woman he just accepted within their ranks; curiosity getting the better of him he took the folder that had been left on his table, most likely her dossier, and opened it at the first page, getting a look at the personal data listed near the picture of a lovely young lady.

* * *

 **Two months before, somewhere within Nagano Prefecture, 11:20 A.M.**

Within a quarter of hour the Gate would open and unleash in Ginza an army followed in its track by an horde of creature that looked like something a Dungeon Master would have arranged for a quest of Dungeons&Dragons. However it would be a mistake and an act of presumption to think such a western metaphor was all the people of Japan could draw upon to describe the upcoming hell in the streets of Tokyo.

Despite what many people would have thought in a day and age where technology and science overthrown religion and superstitions, even Japan had its tales of gods and demons, of spirits and monsters, of miracles and magic.

Youkai. Once this word would have struck fear and worry in the hearts of peasants and nobles alike, for it was the name of all that lurked within the shadows of the night, of the very incarnation of the deepest of human fears, the manifestation of those who were free of flimsy concepts such as morals or common sense, since it was the name of the supernatural itself.

Of course any self-respecting man from our modern age would simply laugh at such thoughts, labelling them at best as genuine folklore of the old times. People like these would often forgotten that the reason why their front doors wasn't facing north was to ward off evil spirits and that the reason why they were told to not venture out after the twilight as children was because it was the hour in which the demons would wander the earth. These were the same people that when they still were children would wake up in the middle of the night because of a nightmare and call to their help Baku-san to eat away the bad dream, and the same children that would told their amused parents that no, it wasn't just an old legend, they too saw, if for just a moment, a woman hiding in the gap between their furnitures and the wall.

The truth was much more baffling than that however and if those people were ever to learn it they would be consternated. Youkai were very much real and the reason why nobody saw them anymore wasn't because they didn't exist, they simply went into hiding. If the world refused to aknowledge them, if people were to make them fade away through sheer force of disbelief, then they would make their own world to live in.

And so with a collective effort they all gathered in the same stretch of land now known as Gensokyo and encased themselves in a barrier that kept them and the world outside separated entities while still linking them, the same way a thread would link two piece of clothes sewn together. Such was the power of the Hakurei Barrier, the result of the combined effort of a talented bloodline of priests and one of the more powerful and influential youkai of Gensokyo, although some went as far as claim that in the creation of the barrier they even borrowed the power of the Dragon God.

Whatever the case they managed to build a barrier that served as a boundary between fantasy and reality, keeping the supernatural denizens of Gensokyo safe from the sterile world spreading on the outside. On the outside people wouldn't see anything but mountain range and wouldn't be able to get through unless they were fortunate enough, as much as ending in a land of monsters can be fortunate, to find one of the momentarily weak spot that could appear. Meanwhile those on the inside were unable to get out but lived in the sure knowledge that their existances were safe as long as they followed the rules established by the creators of that realm that they called home.

Knowing this it wasn't a surprise why the imminent disaster that would fall upon Ginza would shake their life and set in motion a series of events that no one in the rest of the world could expect.

* * *

 **11:25 A.M.**

Even in a place as secretive as Gensokyo there were places of which most inhabitants didn't know anything of, much less could hope to find, and one of those places was an apparently traditional Japanese house, such as the ones movies would show to be the residence of a samurai, were the sword master would spend his days looking through an open sliding door at the blossoming cherry tree in the middle of his garden. However if one was to try to locate the whereabout of said house, he would soon find out that it was no easy task, for the moment he would leave the ground of said house, he would end up in the middle of an empty road, no such building near him. If he was to look around for a while maybe he could have reached and old abandoned village, no living beings in sight except for a mysterious pack of stray cats, then, just as he would give up all hope to find again such place, he would walk away only to realize he was once again on the building grounds and then hear the mistress of the house asking him amused where he thought he was going.

Of course much of those mysteries would find an easy explanation the moment the identity of said mistress was revealed as the self-proclaimed watcher and one of the founder of Gensokyo, the youkai of boundaries Yukari Yakumo. At the moment said youkai like many others of her kin was spending the light hours sleeping until the sunset was to come, however unlike many other times this wasn't a peaceful sleep.

Truth be told she had felt at unease for the last few days, however she couldn't find the reason of her discomfort and yet she felt as if something was nagging her in the back of her mind. She thought it must have been the daily fluctuation of the barrier power, she was afterall pretty sensitive in that matter, however they never lasted this long and her own instinct, honed through centuries of experience, told her that something unexpected was coming and she didn't like to be caught off-guard.

* * *

 **11:35 A.M.**

Then she felt it.

All of a sudden it was as if someone had stabbed her with an icicle, for a quick fit of pain was washed away by a shiver that spread through all of her being before stopping all of a sudden.

And then she saw it.

The barrier had suddenly weakened, with no telling sign at all it just lost a chunk of his power, not any different than a sand castle which surface had just been peeled away by a wave coming from the sea. At first she thought some of the restless residents might have tried to mess with it, it wouldn't be the first time someone played with forces they didn't fully understand, and that was before taking into account all the outside parties that had an interest in getting through the barrier. She soon realized however that it wasn't the case, since the barrier in itself wasn't damaged but it lacked power; like a light bulb would emit a fainter light if one didn't provide enough power to make it properly work, the barrier had weakened because its source of power had become weaker.

That in itself was worrying since as long as humankind would reject unscientific beliefs the barrier would be able to sustain itself, so that left only two possibilities: either the human race had suddenly disappeared or something had shaken their mind enough to begin once again to believe in the unexplainable. Whatever the case she had to take a look for herself.

* * *

 **Ginza, 11:40 A.M.**

In all honesty Legionnaire Flavius Arcarius was bored out of his mind. When their commanders gathered all of them on the holy hill of Arnus they promised them the glory of conquest and battle in the land beyond the Gate, but so far he had saw none of them. Whoever they encountered once they emerged from the Gate had been slain without any fight at all, like cattle brought before the butcher. Now they were spreading through the streets, pushing further into this nation territory and going in any building they came across in search of treasures or hidden barbarians. He was with one of those groups right now, he and another dozen of soldiers going through what he could only suppose was some kind of merchant shop if the amount of exotic objects surrounding them was any clue.

"There's nothing but rubbish here, not what I would have expected from a building big as this" said a soldier on his left as he went through the items on a shelf.

"Nothing in this land is as one would expect, you would think folks who managed to build a city this big would at least have some guards in their streets, instead we found nothing but scared peasants" another one chimed from behind him.

At the same moment another soldier, one of the most recent recruits, got out from a door leading to the storage room and turned to his fellow legionnaires: "Nothing but junk there, seems like they don't even have a single copper coin in this place, how the hell do they buy stuff? You think these savages still barter goods?"

The legionnaire going through the shelf huffed before turning to his less experienced counterpart and said: "The only thing I think is that this is too easy. Once we will get back to the Empire they'll say we went to take a stroll instead of fighting a war. My brother was with Prince Zorzal during his campaign against the Warrior Bunnies, what I'm supposed to tell him about this? I wish we could see some more action."

"Why don't you shut up instead?" replied annoyed Flavius "Gods have a strange sense of humor when it comes to wishes."

"Your words couldn't hold more truth than that boy."

He along with everyone else froze hearing the feminine voice speaking those words and turned around looking for the speaker. Sitting on the counter was a woman with long blonde hairs wearing a long purple dress and holding a laced parasol above her head with her left arm. She looked different than the people they encountered up until that point and the fact that she managed to get there without being noticed, together with the calm expression she had despite being surrounded by a dozen armed men was enough to set him on edge.

"Who are and how did you get here?" he heard a soldier in front of him ask while unsheathing his sword.

"Didn't your parents teach you that is impolite to point a blade to a lady? The youth of these days truly don't have a grasp on etiquette" she chided in tune, still completely unperturbed by the turn of events. It was then that Flavius took notice of something obvious.

"How do you know our tongue?"

"Oh?" She immediately turned on him, seemingly intrigued by his question. He soon realized many other things that he missed at first; despite bearing more resemblance with the women one could find in the Empire than with the one they found in that land, there was something about her obvious beauty that made her looks exotic and almost unnatural, her purple eyes however, despite the playfulness of the rest of her face, showed a cunning and malicious glint, not unlike the one of a wild beast looking at her soon to be prey. She somehow reminded him of some of the more vicious Beastmen he had fought and yet she didn't have any of the foretelling signs of their might.

"Well, looks like not all of you are stone-headed. It's nothing special really, I just adjusted a bit the border between words and meaning."

"What?"

"Oh forget it, perhaps you're not as interesting as I thought. Now then..." she said while unfolding a fan in her right hand seemingly appeared out of nowhere "I would like to have a talk with you all, what do you say?"

Despite the uneasiness gnawing at him, Flavius managed to scoff at her before pointing his own sword at her and muster the more commanding tone he could manage: "I don't know who you think you're, but we're proud legionnaires of the Imperial Army and we will not be ordered around by a mere woman. Now follow us before our commanders or prepare to be slain like the savage you are!"

It was true that they knew nothing of her and his gut feeling was telling him to run away, but his training wasn't for anything and so he pushed forward. Besides, given her attitude and peculiar clothing maybe she was some kind of mage or maybe even a local noblewoman, if they were to bring back such a high-ranking prisoner they were surely to be prized by their superiors with more than mere words of praise. Worst case scenario he was sure that with a body like her she would have fetched a high-price at the slave market.

So he was surprised when instead of covering in fear or trying some last valiant effort to escape capture, she just put her open fan over the lower half of her face and let escape a soft giggle.

"Oh really?" she asked full of mirth "You and what army?"

Before he could ask her what she meant he noticed the sudden and eerie silence that had fallen within the empty building. He realized with fright that they were the only people left in there, all of his fellow soldiers vanished in thin air. Just as fear began to claw its way in his heart he turned around only to found the face of the woman so close that their noses could almost touch.

"Boo!"

With a panicked cry he made another step back, not even remembering when he made the first, before taking hold of his sword with both hand an raising it between him and the woman.

"What have you done to them? Where did you hide them? Answer me!"

"Did you know fear has a smell?" she asked him with the same casual tone one would talk of the weather "Because let me tell you, right now you positively smell _delicious_." She then sniffed the air before humming in satisfaction and taking a step forward.

"Stay back!" he screamed while taking more steps backward, his sword almost painfully stretched all the way toward the monster in front of him "I said stay back you monster!"

"Don't be so nervous, I don't bite. Well I could, but I'm far too refined to step so low as to use such brutish tactics. It seems like I can get the same result anyway."

He had no doubt about it, the creature in front of him was a demon from hell itself and he knew she could have killed him already, instead she decided to toy with him for her own perverse pleasure. As he took more and more step backward he still watched her approaching ever so slowly, a wicked smile on her face. He knew sooner or later he would be with his back against the wall, but at that moment the only thing his instinct wanted from him was to get as far as possible from that monster.

It was for that reason that he was surprised when his left foot didn't land on the floor and instead felt empty air underneath it. When he turned to find the cause he was horrified, instead of the wall behind him there was what looked like a tear in the air itself, opened to a purple void full of thousands of unblinking red eyes that were staring back at him. He was petrified by the fear for a few moments before he reminded of the threat in front of him, just in time to feel a push and begin to fall into the endless void.

As he looked up she was standing on the other side of the tear, her outstretched parasol the likely culprit of his fall. Just as he notice the borders of the tear closing he heard her one last time.

"See you on the other side!"

* * *

 **Yakumo's residence, 11:45 A.M.**

If one was to look at the scene unfolding in the garden, it was most likely that no meaning of it could be found. In the middle of the trees a dozen of men wearing armour laid unconscious, many of them stretched all over the ground as if they landed flat on it; looking at them from the porch with a confused expression was a woman which was herself worthy of attention if not for her peculiar outfit at least for the simple fact that she had various golden tails, not unlike those of a fox, and, if the pointy tips under her hat were anything to go by, fox ears as well.

To be honest with herself, Ran should had already be desensitized to a sight like that, one could chalk it up to be the end result of centuries of servitude under the eccentric anomaly known to the world as Yukari Yakumo, but even then it wasn't a common occurrence even for her master; in fact, that would only be the third time she found herself in such a situation.

Before she could muse any further on what she was looking at, a voice interrupted her: "Oh, you're already here. At least this save some explanation."

"Lady Yukari!" she said as she turned toward her master, hiding only with partial success the surprise in her voice; it wasn't a secret to anyone who knew her that she usually would sleep through the day hours, if she was already awake something big must had happened.

"Sorry Ran, I would love to tell you what's going on exactly, but I hate to repeat myself and I'm positively sure others will soon come looking for answers. Now, as you can see I ran into this lovely bunch a while ago and despite my earnest interest of a chat with them I'm afraid this isn't possible at the moment. So, since there are a couple of other things I would like to look into, could you keep an eye on them in the meantime? They might be a bit gruff once they wake up, but I'm sure it's nothing you can't manage. Oh, try not to mess them up to much though, it would be better if they still can compile intelligible sentences."

Just as Ran managed to grasp the words she spew out at lightning speed, Yukari had already began to walk away ignoring the confusion of her servant.

"And while you are at it, could you estimate the condition of the barrier every ten minutes? If you could also keep an eye out for whoever goes around poking their noses around any anomalies it would be just wonderful!" she added as she walked through one of her gap.

Then, just as the gap had almost completely closed, she poked her head out and said: "Oh, I may also need Chen for this so I'm going to borrow her." She then completely disappeared along with the closing gap.

For a few moments Ran stood still, probably still processing what had just happened under the spawn of thirty seconds, she then sighed resigned and sagged down in her shoulder. While it wasn't the first time her master dropped in passing a whole list of orders, that didn't mean it was any less frustrating; on top of that she had just decided to take along her own servant, meaning she had to shoulder the full weight of her tasks by herself. It was at time like this that she felt the full price of the contract she had with her master.

Just as she finished this trail of thoughts she heard a groan coming from the garden and she remembered of their temporary guests. One of them had finally woken up and groggily tried to stand up, only to stiffen once he noticed her presence. After a brief instant of confusion, he set his face into a menacing scowl, draw out his sword and pointed it at her before walking purposely toward her.

"Where am I? What happened and what is this place? You better answer me unless you want to be slain, _beast_!"

Feeling suddenly much more irritated Ran sighed heavily before locking eyes with the man in front of her. She did have to keep them under control, didn't she? So, as long as she hold back enough, there was nothing wrong with enjoying some stress relief, right?

"Well" she thought as she cracked her knuckles "this is going to be a long day."

* * *

 **A.N. So, i added this now because when i posted this chapter i was too burned out, but here i am! This is pretty much my first serious fiction, born from some musing i had while scrolling through some GATE crossover; to be honest i was surprised that nobody else thought of this before, but that's what writers like us are for, right? I hope you'll follow me on this journey, but first i'll like to thank the guys from the "GATE: Stories From the Special Region Troops" forum and their "Writer's corner" and those at "Thus the SBers Wrote There!" SpaceBattle thread, they helped me out a lot. Regardless, this isn't just a troll update to add the AN, i plan to publish soon the next chapter, until then see ya!**


	2. Black Cat of Bad Omens

General of the Empire Sequitus Attilus didn't know what to make of the events that transpired that day; after they got out of the Gate everything seemed to be in their favour as they literally carved their way through the mass of people in the streets. Nothing seemed to be able to stop them and small units began to detach themselves from the main force in order to search faster between the numerous building surrounding them. So when one of those unit failed to reunite with them later he didn't pay too much mind to the event however, even if he was to feel any concern about it, fate didn't let him ponder too much on it since the very next moment he took notice of flying beast roaring as they soared through the air, the ground mysteriously tearing itself apart at their passage.

The following hours had been an unexplainable event after another, most of their army being destroyed by some kind of magic he couldn't trace back to any source, armours and shields proving to be moot in face of this inconceivable force. He wasn't after most of their troops had been killed that they could finally see their enemies but even then death would hit his soldiers before they even got into the range of the archers, wounds appearing as if inflicted by a ghost. In the end he found himself along with two dozens of battered soldiers trapped within a building, the door having been barricaded with all they could found.

At the moment he didn't have any idea of what to do, they couldn't fight back on their own, they didn't know how many other legionnaires were left outside and if they would try to rescue them and they still were trying to understand how a power such as them could have been wiped out in less than a day. He could clearly see that what men he had been able to gather were still shaken by the whole ordeal and he got his confirm when one of them suddenly sprung on his feet while shouting and pointing his sword at something.

That something turned out to be just a black cat that managed to get through an open window and was now watching with curiosity the men gathered inside the building. He was ready to dismiss the outburst of his legionnaire as him merely being on edge, but what happened next made him think otherwise.

"See, I told you, it's the same one! I know this has to be some kind of witchcraft!" the soldier shouted addressing another man.

"Stop it, you're acting as if you are crazy!" was the annoyed reply.

"How can you not understand this, it has to be an enemy spy that they sent to follow us!"

"Soldier, that's enough! What is this nonsense you're spouting?" Sequitus asked clearly irritated.

"General, ever since Flavius group disappeared this cat has been following us. As we walked through the streets I kept seeing it everywhere, as if it was keeping us under control. When the enemy magic struck us I finally understood it all; this is no mere cat, it must be a creature under the control of the enemy mages, that's how they could hit us from so far away even if they couldn't see us!"

"You talk like a madman, did you hear yourself?" the general asked, knowing that he had to bring this man back to his senses before he could spread panic amongst the others "No mage can control a living being, that is only possible for those that can manipulate souls for their own means so, unless you're suggesting that gods and Apostoles live here as well and would stood as low as to use a mere cat as familiar only to entrust it to simple humans, I suggest you clear your head before speaking!"

"Then what if it's a spirit or a guardian deity, maybe what hit us wasn't from the people of this land, it was the ire of a greater being for us trespassing on his sacred land!"

"Keep spouting nonsense like that and I will shut you up personally, now stop acting like a moron and act like a soldier of the Empire!"

Before the argument could escalate further they heard voices and steps gathering outside their hastily erected barricade and knew that the enemy had finally founded them. This only seemed to bring the already hysteric man further down his own madness.

"I knew it! I knew it! Can't you all see that this is as clear as day! It brought them here! That damn cat brought them all here!"

Sequitus realized that the man was beyond recover and so he simply stood up before punching him as strong as he could in the side of the head, the soldier falling to the floor unconscious. Then he turned to the rest of the soldier in the room and gazed at all of them, finding himself satisfied that despite the despicable show that the lunatic had put up, they all seemed ready for the upcoming battle.

They all got ready to face their enemies once they would burst through the door-frame and they draw out their swords. They knew they most likely wouldn't come out of the fight alive, but they would fight with all of their strength before they would give the enemy the satisfaction of their deaths. So when the closed door and the barricade suddenly turned into hundreds of splinters flying everywhere, it wasn't an act of bravado to defiantly shout as their general urged them forward at the cry of "For the Empire!"

Said general didn't make it to far however as invisible strikes hit him all over his torso drawing blood, leaving him to fall down while his soldiers rushed forward only to be met with the same fate.

In his last moments he ended up staring to the side and so he managed to see the infamous black cat still there, unperturbed by the thunderous sounds he could still faintly hear. For a moment it seemed like the cat was staring at him, one would said it almost looked amused, before it turned away and jumped out of the window. It was at that moment, just before life left him completely, that he noticed that the cat had two tails.

Maybe the lunatic wasn't a lunatic afterall.

* * *

Youji Itami was a man of simple things. His motto was to eat, sleep and play, with life being something in between and when it came to priorities between his work and his hobbies the latter won by a large margin. So it was baffling for him how he managed to get involved in something as serious as leading a mass evacuation toward the Imperial Palace. That being said, just because he managed to bring the civilians that followed him within the safety of the walls and just because the assault and riot squads of the police managed to repel the enemies forces long enough for the JSDF Cobra to come to the rescue, that didn't mean his effort there were over.

At the moment he was still wandering around, helping the medic personnel with the simpler tasks and trying to calm down those who were still too shaken; at that point he saw so many faces that most of them had simply become barely more than silhouettes, he could however vaguely remember who was who based on were he found them. Next that tent was the taxi driver who had been stabbed in the arm by an arrow, the woman who was curled on his left was out shopping when it all went down, and the little girl he found in front of him as he took a turn on the right...

He stopped himself once he realized that the little girl in front of him was somewhat of a new face, which was kind of strange, when one thought about how many people he saw in those hours one would believe that he would have at least some vague sense of familiarity with most of them. The one standing before him however, not only didn't have any of that feel, but she seemed to be out of place somehow.

If he didn't have any idea of who she was, she seemed to have instead a grasp of who he was or at least his temporary role that fate had given him. She kept staring at him with expectation, in a way that almost reminded him of an actor waiting for the signal to start his monologue, so in the end he decided to abide to those expectation.

"Hey there, are you alright?" he said as friendly as possible while lowering himself to not intimidate her with his height. If he was to make an estimate she couldn't be older than eleven, so either she was on a school trip or she was out with some relatives when the Gate opened. She was wearing a red shirt and a green skirt that reached for her knee and there was no backpack in sight; granted, she could have left it behind, but his second theory sounded more plausible, especially since he didn't heard about any class of children being there.

"You're the man that brought us here, right?"

He was brought out of his musing once she spoke back in the cutesy tone one would expect from a girl of her age but with an impressive determination that left him stammering for words.

"Uhh... Sure, sure I am! My name is Youji, Youji Itami" he then remembered that society required of him to ask for her name and since she was a child this could help resolve any trust issue or so he thought to have heard somewhere "What's your name?"

"Chen! My name is Chen!"

"Just Chen?" he asked still a bit taken back by her energetic answer.

"They say that you shouldn't give your full name to a stranger, even if he's acting nice."

"Well, that is true, but I just want to help" he said before pausing a moment "Because you needed help right?"

"Of course I do! I was with my Auntie but then those bad people arrived and I lost her, can you help me find her?"

Itami frowned as he heard those words, it had been almost three hours from the assault, if this girl still hadn't found her aunt then it wasn't too far fetched to think of the worst. However he couldn't give up yet and so he stood up and smiled before mustering his most reassuring tone: "Sure, it's no sweat at all. Do you know where she could be?"

The little girl shook her head and replied: "No, but she must be somewhere around here. She's so clever so she must have come here looking for me!"

Itami didn't know what was more surprising, the girl optimism or the fact that he willingly embarked on what could become a ghost hunt. Still he followed the girl as she ran through the mass of people, the only thing he could track of her being her short brown hairs.

He soon found out that keeping up the pace with a child was more difficult than he thought, if it was true that two of her steps were just like one of his own, it was also true that her smaller frame gave her the advantage when it came to moving between people. Although she asked for his help, she was the one that kept asking whoever she found about her aunt just to move forward when no one was able to give her an answer, the most he was doing was trying to catch up with the unbelievably fast girl, a task that he managed to accomplish barely since she already ran for almost ten minutes. In any other situation he would have thought that she was guiding him somewhere instead of looking for someone, but none of those thoughts crossed his mind as he made his way toward the girl that had finally stopped.

"H-Hey, slow down I almost lost sight of you a couple of time." As he almost kneeled over trying to recover he briefly wondered what his instructors would say if they were to know that he was out of breath by following a child around. Most likely it would only strengthen the opinion they already had of him.

"I still didn't find her" the girl instead replied, ignoring completely what he just said "What do you think Mister Itami, could she have yet to come here?"

He truly had no idea of what he should say, it was true that they simply roamed around with no sense of direction and they barely covered the Palace grounds, but he was beginning to truly believe that this girl might have just lost someone.

"Well..." he said still slightly heaving "You see..."

"Excuse me, excuse me!"

Just then he was cut off by a woman voice coming somewhere in front of him where he could see some people shuffling around and parting away to make space to someone.

"Excuse me!" he heard once again "Have you seen a little girl about this high? She has short brown air and wears a red shirt and a green skirt."

Just then said little girl turned in the direction of the voice and asked hopefully: "Auntie? Is that you?"

As if to answer her the head of a woman appeared from behind another person and she asked in turn: "Chen? It's you?"

As soon as she saw her the woman hastily made her way through people while shouting happily all the while: "Chen you're here! Thank goodness you're safe!"

"Auntie!" was the answer before she too ran forward and hugged her.

Itami on the other hand was confused. "I'm sorry Chen, is that your aunt?" he asked still deeply doubtful. One couldn't blame him since the woman who just appeared looked anything but the aunt of the little girl he had to baby-sit for the last minutes: she couldn't have been older than thirty and she was wearing a simple yet elegant one-piece purple dress, what puzzled him however was the fact that she clearly wasn't Japanese or even Asian for that matter, as the long blonde hairs and purple eyes proved.

Chen looked at him from the arms of the older woman before tilting her head and saying: "Oh, is it because she look different? She and Mommy say it's because they weren't born here."

"Uh, it's that so?" asked a still dumbstruck Itami. So both her mother and aunt were strangers? That only left her father as being Japanese, while it wasn't unheard of such couples existing it was still quite unusual for most people.

"Yes that's the case, me and my sister are both from England." Just then Itami remembered the subject of his musing was standing in front of him and he noticed once again the unusual colour of her eyes. He remembered reading somewhere that purple eyes didn't exist and those who seemed to have them had simply a peculiar shade of blue. At the moment he was quite certain that those who wrote those words hadn't obviously met with that woman.

"Oh, but I don't think we know each other, did this man help you finding me Chen?" the woman said, asking the last question to the girl still cradled in her arms.

"Yes he did, Mister Itami has been very kind to me and he helped me looking around for you Auntie!" was the energetic reply, although Itami was sure she was the one who did most of the job and even then it was questionable if they found her aunt or if she found them instead.

Said aunt gave him a brief inquisitive look, as if she was trying to understand what kind of man he was, before her face turned into one of gratitude and she smiled at him. "I don't know if I could ever thank you enough, when people started panicking in the streets I lost Chen and no matter how hard I tried to find her I couldn't see her anywhere, for a moment I thought I would never see her again."

"Ahh... It's nothing really, I was just doing what is right, nothing else" was the reply of an embarrassed Itami. He would have also liked to add that her niece was already safe and sound when he found her and he just walked around with her as she was looking for her aunt, but the woman was faster.

"Nonsense!" she said after putting down her niece "For being such a wonderful man you are far too humble!" She then took another step forward, getting too close for Itami comfort. He was beginning to feel beyond embarrassed, she was far too close and the fact she didn't stop to look at him with something akin to admiration didn't help either. There was also the fact that he never had been treated like that by any woman with any bit of charm and still she was there, a woman which he objectively had to admit was bewitchingly beautiful, praising him as if he was some kind of saint.

"You are far too gentle really, this is far too much praise." In response she waved a finger while making a "tch" sound "Really Mister Itami, you should learn when to understand when a woman speak with her heart and I can assure you that my heart..." she said while pressing a hand on her chest in a way that ended up emphasising instead the soft flesh above said organ "... is filled with nothing but gratitude." Then her face scrunched for a moment before brightening up all of a sudden.

"Oh dear, where are my manners, I have yet to introduce myself, don't I? My name is Violet Hearn, pleased to meet you Mister Itami." Just as she was straightening up she smiled and quickly added "Oh, since I'm still unwed I guess you could call me Miss, right?" This last sentence managed to make Itami even more confused and embarrassed. Was she trying to flirt with him? He had heard that it was an instinctive response to feel an increased sexual drive after disasters, but this was far too much for his own liking.

"Well, the pleasure is mine Miss Hearn."

"You can just call me Violet if you want!"

And all of a sudden he felt even more uncomfortable. She must have been one of those teasing type of women, but if that was the case, someone had to tell her that the average Japanese citizen would find such a blunt approach unnerving. He sure felt that way. Trying desperately to direct the conversation to safer grounds he racked his brain for a solution.

"Uh, well... uhmm... You must been quite relieved now" was all he was able to come up with and the moment those words left his mouth he knew how awkward he sounded.

"Oh you have no idea! Beside, when I was talking about my gratitude I meant it. Here" she then produced from somewhere a business card trimmed with purple and gave it to him " It's not much but my family own a little export company, if you'll ever need anything just feel free to ask, I'll do all I can to help you out."

He gingerly took the card before giving it a quick glance, noticing the stylized drawing of a sun over a raining clouds and next to it, both in english and their translation written in kanji, the company name and its contacts. " W-Well then, thank you, I still think I simply did what everyone else would have done, but I appreciate the gesture and I'll definitely keep you in mind if I'll ever need something."

"I was sure you wouldn't forget me that easily!"

Wincing internally for giving the teasing woman more to work with thanks to his last statement, he went to put the card in the same pocket were he kept his personal effects when he realized something was out of place. A quick control was enough to confirm his suspicion.

"My wallet, it's gone! How could have happened!"

He tried to recall when was the last time it was still in his possession and he came to the conclusion that he probably lost it in the chaos following the first minutes after the invasion. Considering what had been going on in the streets for the last few hours he might as well give up any hopes of finding it ever again.

"Oh dear, that's unfortunate."

"You tell me, money aside all of my documents were there, if I think about all the time it will take to get new ones..." He couldn't help but feel frustrated, first he missed the summer comiket, then he had to lead a mass evacuation and now this happened. Even if he tried he couldn't see how it could get any worse than that.

"Oh, I almost forgot, we better tell your mother everything is alright" the woman, Violet, said while looking at Chen "God knows if she isn't worried by now after all that happened" she then patted herself down before frowning "Ah, but I'm afraid my phone went missing as well during all the commotion. Mister Itami, do you know where we could make a call?"

Itami thought a bit before replying: "Sure, if you approach any of the personnel here they'll definitely lend you a phone" If anyone else was to heard that conversation they probably would ask him why he didn't just let her use his phone, truth was that the thought didn't even cross his mind.

"Once again thank you, we better not let Chen mother wait any longer and remember, if you ever need help just ask of me." That being said she began to walk away with Chen in tow, said girl however, before she got out of Itami sight, turned to him and waved her hand before speaking in an upbeat tone: "Bye Mister Itami, have fun!"

Once they were gone he truly wished he could still have fun somehow, he knew however he could still make himself useful there and so he got ready for more work. One last thought about the hyperactive girl was that the way she smiled at him once they parted ways, for some reason reminded him of a cat.

* * *

Walking between the tents that the medical personnel put up were the woman who made herself known as Violet and the girl who presented herself as her niece Chen. If one wasn't too busy they would have noticed that while the grown woman had a calculative look in her eyes the little girl following her was smiling with an hint of mischief.

"Did you get it?"

"Here it is, it was a piece of cake!" was Chen answer after she fished for something hidden in her clothes and hold out a cheap looking wallet "But I don't understand Lady Yukari" she added while looking puzzled "Why did you want to know about him so much? I doesn't look anything special, if anything I think he is a bit dumb."

Yukari chuckled a bit before responding: "Yes, it is true that he looks to be quite... naïve when it comes to certain matters, however I'm also pretty sure that he is going to turn into a major player in what's to come next, call it an intuition." Then she fell silent and kept walking with Chen in tow until they found a fairly deserted corner between two tents. Looking around to make sure nobody was there, Yukari waved at the air in front of her, where a gap opened over a familiar purple void they walked into without hesitation, before it closed right behind them.

* * *

"What's going on? Where am I? Answer me you _beast_!"

Ran found herself sighing once again, the whole ordeal was quickly getting boring. Like the eleven other times she looked the man pointing his sword at her right in the eyes before speaking with the calmest and most reassuring tone she could manage: "This place is the residence of my master who brought you here in order to speak with all of you, as long as you will keep a calm and civil behaviour no harm will come upon you."

The man seemed to be confused for a moment before a flash of recognition crossed his eyes and his face twisted first in a fearful expression and then into one of pure fury. "Like hell I'll wait for that witch to come back! First you'll bring me to the others and then you'll show us the way out to the Empire or else you all will face our rightful fury!"

"Seriously" she insisted, a hint of irritation showing in her voice "You truly are better off just waiting for her, any other option won't end well for you." Did those men were capable to say only the same trite threats once they regained their consciousness? Even if she hoped otherwise, she could predict his response by that point.

"Is that a threat? Did you, a filthy _Beastwoman_ , just threatened a proud legionnaire of the Empire hoping I would cower in fear like a little girl? I'll teach you to show some respect!" He then charged forward while reading an overhead strike that would have embedded the sword in her left shoulder if it was to connect. "If" being the keyword.

As soon as he was within striking distance she effortlessly raised her left arm, seemingly blocking the blade with nothing but her nails, before hitting the gawking man with a right hook, knocking him unconscious immediately. Then, moving as if she done it many others time already, she lifted him over a shoulder and moved him to another room, where a pile of unconscious soldiers was stretched all over the floor, each one with different grades of bruising and concussion.

Ran sighed once again, tired of the repetitive task she had to deal with. So far all the soldiers who had regained their senses became hostile the moment she didn't complied to their absurd requests and as a consequence she had to promptly knock them out once again. Apparently, whoever they were, they didn't seem to posses the knowledge or the sensitivity to understand the futility of their threats and subsequent attacks and, if at first she thought of it as a chance to relieve herself of some stress, now it had become plainly irritating. Her master had gone and disappeared and now exactly two hours, forty-seven minutes and nine seconds had passed and there was still no sign of her; not that she was worried, but it would have been nice if at least she could have told her any reason to make her task seem any more meaningful.

"My, my, what's with the frown? Did the bunch I dropped here before proved to be too rowdy for you?"

"Lady Yukari!" she answered startled as she turned toward the voice. There she found standing her master and at her side there was Chen, her own servant, the first looking at her intrigued, the latter seemingly confused, if by the current conversation or for any other reason she couldn't tell. Once she took a better look at their attire however, she had to hide her own confusion.

"Lady Yukari, if you don't mind me asking, is there any reason for your current choice of clothing?"

Yukari blinked in confusion, before looking down at her own clothes, then at those Chen was wearing and finally turning back to Ran. "Ops" she said, looking somewhat sheepish "I kind of forgot that we had to don something more "fitting" before going out, so we also forgot to change back. Don't worry, it won't take too long."

Before Ran could even try to stop her she was once again gone through one of her gaps, this time dragging Chen along with her. She blinked for a few moment, as if not believing what just happened, before sighing even deeper and shaking her head; sometime it was truly hard to believe that the woman that just left the room was a being of which even gods were wary of.

Almost as fast as they disappeared they were back once again however, while Chen was wearing her usual red dress and green mob cap, her master was sporting a white mob cap herself and a white dress over which she wore an elaborate purple tabard. If her usual purple dress was something akin to a casual set of clothes for her, then her current attire could be easily be defined as her business one; she only wore that when she was to make any sort of official appearance or when she expected to have to deal personally with something. Whatever the case, Ran couldn't help but be put on edge by the knowledge alone that her master was taking the current situation seriously.

"Now then" she heard her say, starling her and bringing her out of her musing "as I was saying, I take it that our guest haven't been too much cooperative, am I right?"

"Unfortunately that's the case, as soon as they woke up they would act pretty aggressively and so I had to deal appropriately with them."

"Nothing too drastic I hope."

"No, nothing of the likes" Ran reassured her "I simply put them back to sleep, so I think they should be back on full forces in a few hours."

"That good to hear" Yukari said while nodding her head approvingly "However that wasn't my main concern, what about our own home turf, how has the barrier been holding?"

Despite suspecting she already knew the gist of it, Ran still gave her the finer details: "While in the first hour the drop in power has been quite drastic, it has sustained no major structural damage, and despite still losing its power over time, said leakage has stabilized in a asymptotic model, so I believe it should stabilize around 82,4093% of his full capacity."

Yukari felt satisfied at her own work, it seemed the barrier was holding better than her own expectations. This didn't mean however that there couldn't be other problems ready to rise.

"What about our "residents"? Did anyone suspect anything?"

"The Hakurei shrine maiden was the first to mobilize, it is part of her work protecting the barrier, and with the sudden loss of power not even her can just dismiss it until it get worse. However, she has no clear idea of what's going on, so she simply wandered around relying on her intuition to find the cause; granted, she is likely to trace back to us sooner or later, but right now she's probably still beating whoever has been unfortunate enough to cross her road and look too much suspicious."

"What about the others?"

"The Lunarians probably already suspect something is off, the same could go for the mountain gods. Considering the decrease in power of the barrier we can suppose the optical distortion the barrier generated has been somewhat dampened, so I'll wager that as soon as the vampire's librarian is going to make her usual astrology studies she'll notice something is amiss. Otherwise, unless it further weakens, I doubt anyone will notice anything if they don't know what to look for."

For some moments Yukari pondered about what she just heard, it was pretty much what she already suspected, having it laid out before her like that however, confirmed her thoughts. Now she just had to get ready for what had yet to come.

"Ran, I need some time alone with our guests, there are some things that I need to confirm, in the meanwhile I need you to keep an eye out for whoever is getting closer to us and once they're too close, I need you to buy as much time as you can by all means possible. At least until I can join you."

Ran knew exactly what the hidden meaning of those words was, so she knew she had been just asked to go as far as to battle whoever was to approach them. Knowing who could be on the look out for them, that meant that every fight she was likely to get into was going to turn badly on her in the end, but she also knew she had to fulfill her master order.

"Understood Lady Yukari. Chen, I need you to come with me, I need all the help possible for this task."

Chen turned to her somewhat surprised, before beaming and walking with her out of the room: "Sure Lady Ran, wait for me!"

Once they both got out Yukari let go of a sigh and slumped in her shoulder. No matter how she thought about it, the whole story was a mess and it would take a lot of time and effort to fix this incident, just thinking about it made her head ache. That didn't mean she wasn't ready for it, if something was really threatening her barrier, her own corner of paradise, _her Gensokyo_ , then she would be ready to treat it as it was fit. It wouldn't be the first time she dealt with powers other may have defined as unthinkable or even divine and it wouldn't be the first time she still emerged victorious, maybe even managed to find it fun.

"Oh, yes" she thought to herself "Things are about to get interesting."

* * *

 **A.N. So what can i say, wow, this went beyond my wildest dreams, you guys sure like this story. If i was to talk about why i made this story, it would be because i got fed up with the JSDF steam-rolling through a fantasy setting and thought to myself "someone should show them what magic truly is" and here we are! Nothing else to say expect that while i would love to work at full speed to complete the third chapter, allergy is killing me so i'm not at 100% of my capabilities. Anyway, i'll still do my best, but until then, thank you all and see ya next time!**


	3. Fate of Sixty Thousands Souls

Flavius was still not sure where he was, he had just began to regain his senses but his memories were still a bit murky, so when he woke up in an unfamiliar room he didn't know what to make of it. Then his eyes drifted to the floor and found the unconscious bodies of his comrades in arms and he remembered all, the invasion, the mysterious woman, the eye-filled void and finally the Beastwoman that he saw when he previously regained his consciousness, before he tried to attack her and got knocked out once again. Thinking back on that last encounter he now admitted that it probably wasn't his brightest idea, especially after what had just happened to him mere moments before; the more he thought about it, the more he realized there was also something amiss with her. Her facial traits didn't look nearly as feral as any other Beastmen and the quick glance he managed to give her, also picked up the now obvious detail that she didn't just had a tail, she had _several_ of them; to his knowledge there was no such Beastmen in Falmart.

"Oh, look who just woke up from his slumber!"

Just then he heard an awfully familiar voice, one that filled him with pure unadulterated dread, coming from above him. Steeling his resolve, he slowly tilted his head upward in order to find the source of the voice, only to be met with a sight that filled him in equal parts with fear and confusion. One of those horrifying gaps was opened on the ceiling above him and sticking out of it up to her shoulder, despite being upside down and defiling every bit of common sense known to him, was the woman who now was the new source of his nightmares.

"Now wait a minute, I know you, you're the bright one!" she replied ecstatic "You have now idea how relieved I am you're the first who woke up, judging by the thrashing I thought the fellow at your left would have been the first. Not to be rude but he doesn't look like he would have made a great speaker. Well, mainly because it looks like Ran dislodged his jaw, so much for not roughing you up too much!"

It was clear that the pause that followed her displeased statement was meant to be his turn to fill in the conversation, but at the moment his mind was just like a blank page and he definitely wasn't able to compile any meaningful sentence: "How... Who...Ahh-ah... Where... You..."

"Oh come on!" she said before disappearing only to be in the blink of an eye at his side, startling him and making him fall back on the floor "Don't tell me she managed to give you some sort of permanent brain damage! To think I explicitly asked her to go easy on you, I need to discipline her better for the next time something like this come around!"

"Where am I?" he began to scream "Why am I here? What do you want from me?"

Apparently hearing those words was a great relief for her since she immediately brightened and smiled in what in any other situation would have been a reassuring way: "Well, looks like I was too hasty to come to a conclusion, you're just a bit shaken. Relax! I'm not going too hurt, is there anything I can do to ease you off? Feel thirsty? Here" she said while reaching with a hand in one of her gaps and brought out some sort of bottle apparently made out of glass and filled with a strange dark caramel colour "Have some of this, I'm sure you'll love it, nothing beats a freshly out of production coke."

He remained silent while still eyeing both her and the unfamiliar beverage with suspicion, not knowing what he could say, what he _should_ say.

"Come on have a taste" she insisted, sounding much more friendly than before "It's not like they would mind one less unit than their daily production!" She then offered once again the bottle to him, completely unperturbed by the "wrongness" of the entire situation.

"What's wrong with you."

"Pardon me?" she asked somewhat irritated.

"I just asked what's wrong with you, you crazy monster!" he shouted, managing to make her flinch "Why are you doing this? You toyed with me, brought me to your own hideout and now you act as if I was some kind of honorable guest you just invited? Just kill me already and be done with this farce!"

If one was to be captured by an enemy it was certain that he would be either killed or sold as slave, that much was a constant in the chaotic mess that was war; instead she teased him, then scared him, then threatened him, finally kidnapped him before dropping him gods-know-where and now she truly believed he would fall for her displays of friendliness and innocence? At least back in the Empire their enemies were honest about their intentions instead of hiding behind the appearances; in short he was tired of this parade she seemed to be playing, if she wanted to kill him then so be it, things couldn't get any worse anyway. Or so he thought.

Gone were any traces of a smile from her face, instead she was now sporting an irritated scowl: "Now, now, that is no way to talk to someone who is showing you kindness, but I understand you went through a traumatic experience, so I'll let this pass just once. So why don't we start this all over? I'm Yukari Yakumo and I..."

"I don't care."

She frowned even further before asking: "Come again?"

"I don't care who you are or what kind of twisted fantasy you hope to accomplish, but I'm not going to talk."

"That's funny, I didn't recall you being in any position to refuse my requests."

"So what?" he replied, making sure as much anger as possible was seething through his words "If I refuse you'll kill me? I don't care, it's the life of a legionnaire to die for the Empire, because I'm sure whatever you want to know is going to be used to harm it."

"You seem to be acting under the wrong assumption, so let me make it clear for you" she said in a low and menacing tone "You're not the tragic hero of a nationalistic play about the glories of your country, you're as relevant to the greater scheme as those who move the stage props while hiding within the shadows. Your death isn't going to let your Empire survive any moments longer. So I recommend you to stop spouting nonsense and start thinking for yourself."

"Do you even hear yourself talking? You're still trying to scare me into following your orders when you don't even have the guts to threaten me properly. You want something out of me? You'll have to take it out with force, but don't expect me to spill out anything, I'll die sooner than betray the Empire, but being honest about your intents instead of hiding behind a sweet smile it's the least you can do to show me the respect a soldier like me..."

"Respect?" she said in an emotionless tone that stopped him in the middle of his furious rant "You want respect from of me? You, an useless, meaningless, arrogant, mere _mortal human being_ , want me to show you respect?" She then began to chuckle slowly and darkly with her eyes closed, however he still somehow felt her staring at him, leaving him completely paralyzed.

"It's so naïve, yet so arrogant, nothing less to expect from a human. You think you can talk big just because you scraped your way to the top of the meaningless speck of dust lost in the Universe that you made its heart in your own delusion? Think again, you're not nearly as powerful as you made yourself to be. Although, that may be a common affliction from where you come from, clinical idiocy, has a certain ring to it, doesn't it?"

He wanted to talk her back, to say something, anything, but he found himself unable to do so. He felt as if each one of her words were laced with venom, feeling utterly drained as one after the other they were spoken; even breathing was hard to him, it felt as if an oppressive aura was trying to drown him, feeling as if the air in his lungs was as dense as tar.

She seemed to be completely oblivious to his struggle, instead she kept talking: "The harm I'll bring to the Empire? Don't make me laugh, it can't be any worse than the one it inflicted upon itself when your bunch crossed that Gate" She was now giving her back to him and yet he could still feel her stare "Did you know the rest of your army was utterly destroyed? The moment the military mobilized against it they have become target practice, by now the search for the survivors of the first strike must have turned into some sort of hunting game. A fitting end for a presumptuous bunch of fools, don't you think?"

Those words however managed to get him out of his stupor; the rest of the army had been defeated? It couldn't be possible, they were over sixty thousands strong when they started the invasion, they even brought with them the wyvern riders and some ogres to act as shock troopers, even if the enemy army was superior to their own it would have taken at least the whole day before they could gain any advantage, let alone defeat it.

"I can almost imagine what those survivors might be going through, all alone in the middle of a city they don't know, holed up in the first building they managed to hide into, shivering in fear like rabbits hidden in their nest, waiting for the big bad wolf to come and eat them." He began once again to feel anger growing within him, a part of him wanting to put his hands around the woman throat to stop those denigrating words from coming out, while another was still trying to make him remember how terrifying she was and stop him.

"Your enemies on the other hand? Probably they're walking through the streets, bored out of their mind and thinking "This will take some days before it's done, what an hassle, couldn't these idiots go die somewhere else?" To them finishing you off is nothing more than flushing out some rats."

His twitching hand went down to his hip only to find out someone had taken his sword, probably while he still was unconscious. His eyes began to wander around the room, taking in consideration a couple of time the low wooden table in the middle of the room as a possible bludgeoning weapon, but he ultimately dismissed it as being to big to be properly wielded.

"You know, if anything I saved you from becoming another blood stain on the floor, so you should thank me for giving you another chance to..."

Her speech was suddenly interrupted by the loud sound of wood being smashed to splinters, as Flavius found himself holding on just the legs of the table, the rest gone into pieces as he took a swing at her with it.

For a moment nothing seemed to be moving, then as time passed he grew nervous when he realized she hadn't reacted at all to the heavy blow she just received, only to be left horrified when she resumed her talk as if nothing happened: "Perhaps I'm just divulging as of right now. All of this talk was to get to this point; knowing that of the enemy you managed to provoke, do you want to know what they're to me?" He was startled and had to take a few steps back once she turned while glaring at him, her purple eyes now alight as if a flame was dancing behind them "Nothing. They're barely more than an annoyance."

If at first he was afraid he now was terrified; the glow her eyes gave off told him of unimaginable power and yet her voice had remained unemotional and even at all the time, as if she wasn't putting any effort in it.

"You think just because I didn't kill you on sight it means I'm weak? Why would I care? Do you go out of your way to kill an ant crossing a road? That doesn't mean however that you'll take another road if you were to step on an anthill."

There was something about being in her presence that drove him to despair, like being in the shadow of a giant about to crush you, just her stare was weighting on him like a boulder; he briefly wondered if this was what one would feel if they were to be confronted by a god.

"Think of a creature of unexplainable strength, a being so powerful people might as well consider as a god, something so ancient that the life spawn of a civilization is but a day of its time and which experience is well beyond any imagination."

By now he had collapsed to the floor, unable to do nothing but keep staring into those fiery pits that were ablaze with hell fire, feeling himself on the brink of crying yet so much compelled to hear her words that he was unable to do so.

"In other words? I am what that creature fears to find hiding under its bed."

It was at that point that he finally crumbled and let out an almost animalistic cry that carried within itself one primal emotion. Fear.

* * *

Mayohiga was a peculiar place even for Gensokyo, originally it was simply another human village until its inhabitants abandoned it, leaving it to become another sign of civilization lost in the wilderness. It was also one of the few places where it wasn't unlikely for someone from outside the barrier to find themselves in, while being much safer than the likes of the Road of Reconsideration or Muenzuka. There were however two possible source of concern for whoever was to stumble there and possibly decide to take refuge.

First there were the cats, dozens upon dozens of stray cats from all over Gensokyo, a veritable army of felines living in the streets, on the roofs even inside the houses, despite most of them not having a single door or window open from which they could enter. One would soon find out that said cats were quite territorial and would be forced to look for a place they didn't claimed yet or prepare themselves to deal with the bites and scratches they were bound to receive if they tried to impose themselves on their territory.

The second and more dangerous one was the nekomata by the name of Chen, who had claimed the whole village for herself and gathered there all the cats she could find in hope of training them to act as her servants, a plan of questionable success if the wounds she came back with from her "training sessions" were anything to go by. Being a youkai she possessed strength and speed superior to the common human, while also being capable of using some low level magic; on top of that she was also the shikigami of a powerful master, which meant that as long as she acted under her orders, she could drawn upon the her power.

Despite this however, coming to Mayohiga wasn't without reason; if one was to encounter Chen they could hope to gain the attention of her master Ran and if one was to meet with Ran they could ask for audience with her own master Yukari Yakumo. Since her residence was unknown and there was no way to contact her on one own terms, going to Mayohiga had soon become between the most influential residents of Gensokyo the fastest way to have a chance to talk to her personally.

It was for this reason that Ran was keeping watch there, she figured that anyone who saw the anomalies in the barrier and understood, even if partially, their meaning would have to come to that village in order to confront her master. It wasn't just an hypothesis, sooner or later she knew someone would show up at their doors and it was her duty to stall them as long as possible, which could be a few minutes or the whole day, until her master finished her gathering of informations.

Thinking about it she found herself concerned about those men; in the past some outsiders ended up being "spirited away" by the barrier and those who had been lucky enough to avoid the more dangerous and feral youkai had been sent back by the Hakurei shrine maiden, their memories altered or otherwise any other measures taken to ensure they wouldn't become a problem in the future. Those soldiers however were a whole different case, she doubted whatever they were going through with her master would leave them unchanged and even then she had a suspicion about their origins, that if true would make impossible sending them to the Outside World. In the end she simply decided that they weren't truly a problem, her master would get rid of them anyway, one way or another.

While she had those thoughts, Chen had been talking all the time about her mission outside the barrier, of how her presence had been not only helpful but decisive to its success, along with some more personal achievement she listened to amused: "...and then one of them started to freak out while still pointing at me and their leader punched him so hard he went to the floor with his legs splayed in the air, then they all started to fight and so I got out of there."

"Sounds like you managed to give him quite the scare."

"Yes I did and the best part is that he wasn't the only one, I think at least a dozen of them found me scary. Isn't it beautiful?" she said before giggling while spinning on her foot happily, only to stop to look at her and ask, this time with some eagerness in her voice "Does this mean I'll become stronger Lady Ran?"

She chuckled to herself, satisfied by how much seriously Chen was taking her lessons about improving her own power; youkai were creature born out of human beliefs and fears and as such they necessitated to be feared in order to exist. The lesser youkai managed to do so by actively going after humans, be it for just giving them a scare or even for going as far as eating them, however, as a youkai reputation grew bigger, with time they could become strong enough that they could sustain themselves on the fear generated by their presence alone, the more powerful going as far as surviving literally thanks to their fame.

So once she took Chen as shikigami she told her of the necessity of making a name for herself in order to grew stronger and apparently she took it at heart. So it was with a good amount of satisfaction that she answered her: "Yes, I'm sure you already become stronger, even better, once they'll start to spread rumours about you, you'll grow even more powerful."

"For real?" she asked excited and with wide eyes "Does it mean I'll be as strong as Lady Ran and even get my own shikigami?"

Ran had to stop herself from laughing in from of such an honest excitement before replying: "Well, I think for that you're still too early of a few..." however she stopped herself as something caught her attention and her face suddenly turned serious.

"Lady Ran? What is it?"

"Someone is coming. Chen, get ready, I'll try and convince them to turn back but we may have to fight them the same."

She still had her eyes locked in the direction from which she could feel two powerful presence rapidly approaching while thousands of thoughts were racing trough her mind. Who could it be? Did they knew about what was going on? Were they coming for them? Would they listen to reason? Would they attack as soon as they made eye contact? How long could she slow them down? Could she make it with the help of Chen?

Then she began to distinguish their features and she finally realized who they were. Usually Ran was very calm and collected, she could manage to maintain an air of grace and elegance at all time and always managed to be reasonable enough to make people think of her of anything from unshakable to cool-headed or even motherly at times. She made a personal point to always show proper etiquette and to not betray any emotion that could be harmful to her reputation no matter the situation, as was expected from a youkai of her caliber and as a testament to her ability as servant to her master. So it told a lot about those two people approaching that she blanched some, her mouth hanging open as a single word made her way out.

"Shit."

* * *

"Thank you for your collaboration, what you said is going to help me a lot."

Silence was the only answer Yukari got out of the man. Looking back at him she sighed, realizing that maybe this time she went too far, not that she regretted it, time wasn't a luxury she had at the moment and the last thing she needed was someone too stubborn to understand the gravity of the situation. She considered herself lucky that she managed to get something out of him before he broke down completely and became catatonic, this did however made if possible more complicated the matter of how to deal with the people she brought with him.

There was no way for the rest of the soldiers to be reasonable once they would come back to consciousness only to find one of their own turned vegetative because she literally scared him out of his mind. That meant that she would have to remove them from the scene altogether, which was harder than what one would think; she couldn't just drop them somewhere and hope they would go die away from privy eyes and there was no place in Gensokyo where there wasn't the risk of some of the more adventurous humans or the more civilized youkai running into them before anyone else got them. Sure, once she removed the boundary alteration she placed on them they would be back to speaking gibberish, but in that case they would draw even more attention.

The safest bet would have been to alter their memories as she had done for many Outsiders and throw them out of the barrier, but that would require precious time she couldn't spare. It truly was a conflicted decision but in the end she decided she would think of it later, right now she had to check out with Ran and meet the eventual visitors that made their way to her in search of explanation. Without another thought she opened a gap and left the room.

* * *

The moment she reached Mayohiga she found herself in the ruins of a violent battle. Craters littered the ground and buildings and trees alike were covered in scorch marks; broken tiles had fallen in the streets and some walls had caved in as if something had been thrown at them. At the end of a newly dug ditch in the main square there was Chen, clothes almost tore to shreds and lacking a shoe, covered in bruises and in the process of being helped to her feet by Ran, which hat was missing along with a sleeve of her dress. A short distance away from them were standing the culprits responsible for such a beating.

On the left was a girl in her early twenties, dark eyes and hairs adorned with a red ribbon an tubes, wearing a red-white outfit that while somewhat reminiscent of the attire of a shrine maiden was heavily modified, as the detached sleeves could prove, and looking at Yukari while impatiently tapping a gohei on her hand. This was something she expected, to be honest she was almost sure she would be the first to make it there, her concern however was her companion.

On the right was standing a mature looking woman with blue eyes and short green hairs on top of which was resting a blue hat with a gold emblem in the front and wearing a finely decorated blue dress with white sleeves. She had been looking at her since she arrived with a stern expression while holding in front of her a wooden rod and despite making a better job at masking it, she too was clearly irritated.

Her presence was problematic, it could easily turn into a huge problem for her plans so she had to handle this meeting carefully; maintaining a neutral tone while still smiling Yukari began to speak: "The Hakurei shrine maiden and the Yamaxanadu herself, to what do I own the pleasure of this visit?"

The girl huffed before replying annoyed: "Cut it off Yukari, you know damn well why we're here!"

"That may be true for you Reimu, however I have no idea why the Yama of Gensokyo would be here."

The woman seemed to be looking for the signs of something on her face before speaking: "Let's say at the moment I find myself with tens of thousands of problems, a number which mind you is still growing, and after meeting with Reimu I have a suspicion of who could know more about my predicament."

Yukari thought about it for a moment, she already had a plan forming in her mind and the last thing she needed was for the Judge of the Dead to be nosing around; she was almost tented with faking ignorance in hope to get rid of her until she saw her keeping at reach of her hand a small pocket mirror. She immediately recognized it as the famed Cleansed Crystal Mirror, an object in possession of every Yama which let their users see someone past deeds; if she was to use it she could she trough every deceptions she could come up with.

Resigned with herself she sighed before motioning them closer: "Fine, no sense hiding it now, however we should talk about this somewhere else, you never know who might be listening. Ran, in the meantime, make sure our other guests stay asleep and don't worry about the one sitting against the wall, I doubt he would ever be a problem again."

Said statement was met by her servant with a nod of aknowledgement, by the Yama with an interested glance and by Reimu with a suspicious look. She walked with the two in tow toward one of the still standing building, a small house by the look of it, and closed the door once they were inside. She then muttered some words under her voice before tracing in the air with her fingers a pentagram, before a soft glow spread from her and she turned satisfied toward her visitors: "There, now nobody should be able to listen to us without me knowing. Now shall we talk about the recent events? I believe you're the first who would like some explanation, isn't that right Eiki?"

"Yes it is, _Yakumo_. I would like to know why thousands of souls of which we have no record at all have appeared all of a sudden on the shores of the Sanzu River. At first I thought Komachi had been slacking off as usual, then I realized that we had no idea of where they came from, no previous reincarnation, no past sins, nothing at all. What's even more confusing however is that when I used this" she said while raising her mirror " I found evidence of them being not from this world. Which is why, once I met with Reimu and learned that something was messing up the barrier, I thought you could clear some doubts for the both of us. So, care to explain?"

Yukari was now certain that she couldn't come out of this lightly, so the best she could do was act cooperative and try to minimize the damage. "You're the Yama of Gensokyo so it's no wonder you might still have to hear about it" she said while maintaining a serious face "so let me tell you exactly what happened. A few hours ago a Gate opened in the middle of Tokyo, Ginza to be precise. From said Gate an invading army from another world appeared and launched an attack. It suffices to say that people didn't take it too well and so a counter-attack was launched. Now, normally this wouldn't affect us, however there are two main problems. The first is the army itself, which beside being at the same technological level of feudal Europe, had something in its ranks that the Outside World had long stopped to believe in. Creatures of legends."

While Eiki simply raised an eyebrow, Reimu was much more vocal in her reaction: "You mean youkai? I thought you said there were almost no youkai left outside the barrier and those who still were there have been laying low!"

"You forget that they come from a different world, they are not youkai of the Outside World per se. Besides I'm not even sure they're youkai to begin with, from what I learned they seem to be under the command of humans, which is something no youkai, no matter how weak, would do. Either they are some local species of lesser youkai who went trough years of conflict with the humans, to the point they reached some sort of agreement, or they simply are some autochthonous natural species that somehow resemble youkai, that's a matter I'll like to further inquire." She briefly took a breath before becoming even more serious and resuming her talk: "However that's not the point. Point is, people saw something they believed was just the stuff of folklore and in doing so they began to doubt what they define as rational. I'm sure you know where I'm going."

Reimu too became serious once realization hit her: "The barrier is powered by human disbelief, if people were to believe once again in the supernatural then its power would wane. Meaning that something such as the souls of a dead army could cross it with no problem." Then a doubt must have rise in her mind, for her face was briefly confused: "But if that's the problem then it shouldn't be too troubling, sure once they dealt with this army there may be some confusion, but I'm sure that with time people will just thought of it as some kind of unexplained events that science will find an answer for in due time."

Yukari sighed, she knew this was coming, so she might as well destroy that last hope: "Yes, that would be the case, unfortunately here comes in play the second problem, that Gate is still open." This time shock was clear to see on Reimu face while the Yama was looking troubled. "That means that everyone from the Outside World can cross it and see for themselves enough to make even the more cynical scientist doubts his beliefs. It still something of unknown even to me, but my first investigation have confirmed that besides questionable creatures they also possess magic, although to a lesser extent and even gods. It enough to make the barrier crumble down like a house of cards."

Reimu was clearly realizing the gravity of the situation, but despite this she still tried to find some good side to what was shaping up to be another incident: "Well, but isn't that a good thing? If the barrier breaks down then it means youkai can once again sustain themselves on human beliefs. It may be shocking at first but isn't what you always wanted?"

"Reimu, I understand you're afraid of the consequences of this incidents, but I'm sure you're not that naïve. One of the rule of Gensokyo is that no harm has to fall upon its human habitants, who's to say that when the barrier disappear some of the more unruly youkai won't take it as meaning that all the humans they can find outside the confine of Gensokyo are fair game? They surely seem to think like that when it comes to Outsiders who get lost here." Despite the grimace Reimu was showing Yukari pressed forward: "And even if that was not the case, think of it like this. Your home had just being attack by an army of mythical monsters which came out of a magical gate, then all of a sudden, a land of similar creatures appear out of thin air. Would you wait to see if they too will be hostile or would you try to get the first strike before they can became a threat?"

"But we can defend ourself, we got many powerful people, I'm sure we could repel their assaults until we can convince them to use more peaceful methods."

"How often do you visit the Outside World? They've come a long way from the Meiji era and unlike the squabbles we have during our daily routine, they'll shoot to kill. I'm sure me and a few others could still survive whatever they could throw at us, but what about the others? What about the lesser youkai? What about the Human Village? What about Sanae, Marisa? What about you? I can assure you that my concerns are anything but selfish."

Reimu looked absolutely destroyed by those words, but after a few moments she managed to ask: "Then, if that Gate is really that dangerous, why haven't you closed it yet?"

"Because I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?" she asked back angrily "You are Yukari Yakumo, the great youkai of boundaries, you created Gensokyo, you open portals out of thin air without a second thought, you once manipulated the boundary of day and night to make my shrine be half in the light and half in shadows and you have done many other feats that to others should have been impossible, what do you mean you can't do it?"

"That Gate it's not a freak of nature, someone opened it and someone is keeping it like that."

"Isn't that what you always do with your gaps? What's so different?"

"Everything" was her irritated reply "Imagine two people walking side by side, each one holding a framed canvas so that said canvases face each other; despite doing their best, these people can't keep up the same pace, one may slow down a moment, the other may stumble on a rock, things like that. Now imagine to cut a hole on each canvas and to sewn to it a tube of cloth to connect both of them. Even if the pace of those men is uneven, the tube is flexible enough to maintain the passage open without the canvases suffering any stress because of it. This is how I work. Now imagine the same canvases, only someone punch a hole trough one of them, grab the other and try to pull it trough the hole. If the pace of those men was uneven before, now is downright chaotic and to avoid the canvases to separate one has to use a lot of force, enough to even damage one of the canvas or both. That's how that Gate works. In the end it's an half-assed job, but one done using lots of strength."

"So you can't do anything?"

"Not yet" she replied "As I mentioned this methods create a lot of interference, enough to make hard for me to do something about it without some proper preparation. What _we_ can do however, is try to minimize the damage until I have a better grasp of the situation. That means reducing the damage to the barrier and making sure no one get words out of this."

"So basically lying" was Eiki reply.

Yukari sighed heavily, that was why she dreaded her involvement: "I know that's not something you would approve of, but telling the truth now would only spread panic and the consequences might be grave. Are you sure you can handle the responsibility if that was to happen? If I recall correctly you shouldn't interfere with the living."

"That doesn't mean I can tell you this is a morally ambiguous choice, one that could very well weight negatively on your soul."

"I'll keep this advice at heart and respectfully choose to ignore it."

"This is exactly why I can't stand you."

"You and me both."

The Yama sighed before rubbing her forehead: "I guess that means those souls will have to wait until I can send them back to their administration, for all I know it might even not be part of the Ministry of Right and Wrong."

Then she turned once again to Yukari before asking: "Still, I wonder how you managed to gather all those informations, I thought you said the Gate created too much interference for your power to work properly, so you can't have used them to get to the other side. Either you crossed it, which I doubt since you would be plunging into the unknown without a sure way to get back, or someone else told you. I believe you mentioned some guests before."

Yukari frowned, she truly hoped she wouldn't bring that up: "Yes I did, some soldiers of said invading army have been gracious enough to follow me in order to have a conversation."

"More like you gapped them while they still didn't understand what was going on" Reimu said.

"That's beside the point. One of them in particular has been quite useful in telling things about their society, why they got here and what little he knew about the Gate."

"And what happened to him?"

Seeing the Yama still had her mirror at reach and was looking at her as if to dare her to lie to their faces, she went with the truth: "He was a bit reluctant until I decided to discipline him better, unfortunately the poor thing didn't handle the pressure too well and now is quite... unresponsive."

"Meaning?"

"He may or may not have gone insane to the point of being completely catatonic. Look, I know I overdid it, but I didn't have time to waste telling him nicely why he should have helped me."

Reimu looked understandably upset, it was part of her duty to ensure the safety of humans afterall, but still asked: "What of the others?"

"Still unconscious, nothing to worry about them."

"Really now? If I remember you just stressed out how much we need to be secretive, so I doubt you'd just let them go. What did you planned to do?"

And now it was the part she hoped she could avoid since the beginning: "Fine, I might have thought of dropping them somewhere and have the youkai deal with them."

"You mean kill them" said Reimu narrowing her eyes.

"Whatever you want to call it. If they're anything like the rest they surely deserve it."

"You can't say that, you can't act like judge, jury and executioner because they're an hindrance to your plan!"

"Of course I can, I'm a youkai remember? This is what we do."

"You're really stretching the definition for your own advantage Yakumo" was Eiki reply.

"What do you care, they're not even from this world."

"But they're still human" Reimu said, now much more emotional than before "Look, I close an eye on the fact that for some youkai it's still a need, I try to ignore that for every Outsider I save another one might been in the process of being seasoned with soy sauce for all I know, I even came to accept that those idiotic enough to ignore my advice and get themselves killed they were somewhat responsible for it. But I can't get over the fact that you just kidnapped a bunch of them, planned their death and hoped I wouldn't mind."

"I knew you would mind, my plan was to not mention them at all, however someone here thought it was a good idea to leave me with no other choice" Yukari added before glaring at Eiki.

"What's wrong in making sure that a shrine maiden can properly do her job?"

"Even if she trouble a youkai that's doing her own?"

Eiki shrugged: "Such is the natural order."

Yukari felt drained, this was really getting harder than what she anticipated: "Let's do something like this, I can put the vegetable back in Tokyo streets, he's in no condition to tell of what he saw, and those who'll find him will just think he got lost at some point. For the others, I might have come up with something that could prove to be more useful in the long run, but I assure you they'll be safe and sound. Is this enough for you?"

Reimu seemed to be thinking about it before she reluctantly nodded: "Still better than your first idea."

"But not as efficient. Now, I'm sure the Yama is going to have her hands full with those souls, but we must be get ready ourself, this isn't going to be an easy task."

Reimu groaned and slumped against a wall: "I barely come back from stopping a Lunarian invasion caused by the machination of a vengeful divine spirit and her goddess friend and this happen, can't I get a break?"

"Trust me, if this will get as bad as I think, the Lunarian attempted invasion will look like the Great Fairies War by comparison."

* * *

 **A.N. This one got a bit longer, i hope you're not afraid of wall of text and exposition. For now and probably most of the story the tone is going to be quite laid back, but i assure then once we will get to the action you won't regret it. Hopefully. Regardless, i might slow down from now on, but know that i'm still working on this, until then see ya space cowboy! Wait, wrong anime, just see ya until next time!**


	4. Expose the Esoteric!

Emperor Molt Sol wasn't pleased at all. Almost a month has passed since the army that would cross the Gate left the Capital and instead of receiving news of its success or at least their progress, he was treated to the sight of a ragtag bunch of battered survivors who brought back tales of an enemy in possess of incredible magic and terrifying destructive beasts. Some talked of them as powerful mages other compared them to gods, all of them agreed on their might. A few even claimed to have been followed around by a malicious spirit who took the form of a black cat, right until the destruction of the enemy spell was upon them. Personally he thought that if the enemy strength was probably true, the same couldn't be said of all of those tales; it was most likely that in the chaos of the assault some of the more fearful soldiers might have misunderstood what they saw.

That didn't mean that the matter didn't concerned him, it was after all a massive defeat of the likes of which the Empire didn't experienced in century. At the moment it was a priority to position defensive lines around the Gate, in the event this new enemy tried to launch an invasion against them, and for that reason he was in the middle of a meeting with one of his advisors, Count Marx, and some of his generals.

"Since the enemy will have only a way to get to us, I propose we treat this the same as a siege, we can aim our trebuchets and balistas at the Gate, while the archers can cover the advance of our infantry to push back the invaders" said General Severus, a balding man on his right.

"What of the aerial units? From what our survivors told us, they were the ones who seemed to trouble the enemy the most" asked the other general, a certain Catus.

"I think they would be more effective if we use them for a surprise attack against their sidelines, if we are to believe the survivors any frontal assault have been easily countered."

"If we're to believe all of what they told us, then our enemies are gods that can summons the fires of hell and kill with just a glance."

"But merely dismissing it as hallucinations induced by panic will surely..."

Before he could try to stop what was rapidly becoming an heated argument, the doors to the room slammed opened, a messenger out of breath standing before them: "Your Majesty, I bring news of the utmost urgency!"

He barely lifted his eyes from the maps and various others parchments that were laid before him, clearly irritated, no matter how urgent the message was, there were very few cases in which such a blatant violation of proper court etiquette could be accepted, a fact which Court Max made sure to point out: "His Majesty is in the middle of a meeting in which the future of this Empire may well be decided, how dare you interrupt us like this, I should have you flayed!"

"Now, now, I'm sure our messenger here is well aware of his poor behaviour and yet he acted like this despite full knowing the risk. The least we can do is listen to what news he bring us that would be worth such trouble."

His advisor placated he gestured toward the man still standing stiff in the entryway, prompting him to relay his message: "Now then, what is the message which you bring to us?"

"Eleven of our soldiers have appeared at the South Gate, they claim to be survivors of the attack and to have important information to share with us."

"That's it?" was the annoyed reply of Catus "You've come all this way to tell us of some late comers?"

"Not at all! They said to have been made prisoners before our enemy responded to the attack by a third party, which released them to relay us a message."

"A third party?" asked Count Marx "We gathered no evidence of such a thing existing beyond the Gate, what's the meaning of this?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to ask them personally your Highness, they refused to tell anything else even under threat of martial court and they kept looking around as if they expected someone to be looking at them."

Emperor Molt sighed deeply before saying: "Very well. Make so those soldiers are brought to our presence immediately, if they truly have such invaluable information we ought to hear them out."

The messenger respectfully bowed before leaving the room, the four men inside left alone to discuss this new development.

"Well Count Marx, what do you make of this supposed third party?" asked Severus.

"Most likely either a minority of their government or some rebellious force that's trying to gain our help in order to overthrown the current head of state, we should listen to what they have to say, but I wonder how they're going to get our answers to their demands."

"What makes you think they want something from us apart from military help?"

"If that was the case they would have simply sent an envoy, using some freed prisoners is clearly a move to show both their capability in getting hold of them in the first place and their desire to open a peaceful relationship with us. If I was them I would at least ask for some autonomy once they helped us conquer the land beyond the Gate."

"It's no sense now to make these suppositions, those soldiers will give us the answers we're looking for soon enough" replied Catus.

As if to answer his words a knock was heard at the double doors and once they received permission eleven soldiers walked in, some imperial guards flanking them. Immediately the four men were taken aback by their condition, they all lacked their weapons, their armours were dirtied and damaged and the soldiers themselves sported signs of old bruises and cuts in the process of healing. For lack of better words they looked like they'd been through hell and back.

Emperor Molt was the first to speak: "Who is going to talk between all of you?"

After some shuffling around a soldier made his way from the back, by the look of it he must have been one of the older of the group and definitely a veteran and yet his eyes were full of fear even as stood straighter before his Emperor.

"That would be me your Majesty, I have been appointed personally by her to relay her words."

"Her?" asked confused Count Marx before Molt cut him out with a wave of his hand and prompted the legionnaire to continue.

The man took a breath, probably to calm himself before starting his tale: "We were part of the main force that crossed the Gate and after encountering little to no opposition our commander gave the order to split into smaller groups in order to cover more ground, I was with one of such groups when we entered what looked like some kind of merchant place. At first nothing seemed to be out of place, some of us were clearly bored" he then paused as he had to suppress a shudder "Then she revealed herself, almost as if she just appeared out of thin air."

"Who appeared?" asked Catus clearly irritated by the long drawn exposition.

"A woman, only she wasn't like any of the ones we met up until that point; she wore a strange dress and had a parasol, but the strangest thing was her eyes, they were purple and they seemed to be looking at your very soul. We tried to threaten her into following us, but she just ignored us and then, all of a sudden I felt as if something horrible was about to happen and not a moment later I felt myself falling into a void and I lost conscience; it wasn't until I woke up much later that I realized she must have been some kind of powerful sorceress and that we had walked into a trap."

He glanced to his side once again, as if he expected someone to be there. General Severus however had other ideas and asked him a bit forcefully: "Soldier, I need you to be focused. Did you saw that woman again?"

"No, but that's when things got worse."

General Catus frowned: "How so?"

"When I woke up I found myself in the middle of a garden surrounded by the walls of a building, I noticed almost immediately that next to me on the ground were some of my comrades still unconscious, but I also realized some of them were missing. Once I got to my feet I saw in front of me what looked like a Fox-woman, wearing a strange attire and looking at me intently. I asked her where I was and what happened and she replied that her master had brought us there in order to talk. When I asked her to release us she refused, even going as far as threatening me, so I tried to attack her, but not only she easily evaded the blow, she knocked me out in one hit."

"You what?" General Catus shouted, startling the man and surprising the other occupant of the table "You were defeated by a one of the Fox Folks? They lack the strength of Wolfmen, the agility of the Cat People or the viciousness of the Warrior Bunnies, the only thing they got going for them is their cunning and you managed to be defeated by one of them? No wonder we lost the battle beyond the Gate, our soldier have become such weaklings that they can't even beat a damn fox!"

Severus frowned at that display: "General Catus, I don't think this is the moment for..."

"Forgive me for interrupting, but I doubt she was like anything we dealt with" reply flustered the legionnaire.

"Oh really?" asked Catus mockingly "And why would that be?"

"She had nine tails."

That statement managed to bring silence to the room. "I'm sorry, what did you just said?" asked Count Marx in disbelief.

"At first I didn't realize it, but she had nine tails and to be honest she looked less feral than any other Beastmen I ever saw."

"You sure you didn't hit your head one time too many?" scoffed Catus "There's no such thing as a demi-human with more than one tail, let alone nine!"

"I'm telling the truth, I swear!"

"General Catus" Molt said, finally speaking up after a long silence "I'd say we better let him finish his tale before discussing of his reliability. Go on."

The soldier nodded in appreciation before resuming: "When I woke up a second time we were no longer in that garden, instead I found myself to be in the middle of a countryside. Once we all got back to our feet we soon realized that one of us, Legionnaire Flavius Arcarius, was missing. Then the Fox-woman appeared before us once again. She said that her master had been gracious enough to bring us back to Falmart and that in exchange for her generosity she simply asked us to relay a message to your Majesty."

The man stopped himself once more before glancing again around him almost looking for the sign of something. "Soldier" Severus asked to get him out of his daze "What happened next?"

He regained his focus before resuming his tale, although this time he sounded more reluctant in doing so: "We asked her what happened to Flavius and she... I remember clearly that she turned to me with a detached look and in a voice devoid of all emotion, as if she was talking of a missing piece of pottery or the weather of the day, she said: "He proved to have outlived his usefulness." Those were her exact words, you would have thought she was talking about a farm animal who got too old. And so we, we were enraged, and so we attacked her all at once... but she..."

Despite feigning indifference, the four men at the table were all disturbed to some degree by this man tale but invited him nonetheless to finish it. After he finally regain some composure he kept talking in a fearful tone: "You can't understand what it was like if you didn't fight her yourself, she managed to avoid all strike and yet she barely moved from her spot. Trying to attack her only meant receiving a blow from her and being sent flying away by a few steps, she twisted out of the way of attacks she couldn't see and in the meanwhile she kept lecturing us on the futility of our action. She told us that if we thought she was a terrifying opponent, then we truly had yet to see the worst the world could offer and if that was the case, we were better off following her master command, least she decided to lecture us herself."

"In the end we could barely pick ourselves up while she didn't even break a sweat. She decided we were ready to follow her instructions and chose me to tell you of our hardships and to relay the message. She also told us that she would make sure we would carry her order out, so it was no use trying to run away or attempt to disregard her instructions in any other way. And she kept her word, some of us tried to take another road, tried to tell of others what happened to us, and every time they would see her just out of the corner of their eyes, looking at them to see what they would do. When we reached the South Gate, we were relieved we could finally put an end on this nightmare."

At this point it was clear what troubled those men so much, and even if so far what they learnt of the Fox-woman and her master was sketchy at best, it was clear that they were a force not to trifled with. So it was almost reluctantly that Count Marx asked: "What was the message?"

"That her master is displeased with what we have done with the Gate, that it would be in our own interest to close it and that if we can't then she hopes we're ready to face the consequences. She also want your Majesty to know that if the latter was true, then she will seek out an audience with us on her own terms and that we'll know she's coming once we'll witness the Wedding Fox."

"The Wedding Fox? What is such nonsense supposed to mean?" asked an irked General Catus.

"I'm simply relaying her message, I have no idea myself."

Before anyone could inquire any further, they heard distant shouting, followed by the faint sounds of rushed footsteps and other unidentified loud sounds. As almost anyone was left wondering what was going on, Molt was the only one to take notice of the lead soldier doing once again what he had dismissed as a nervous tick and glance to his side, only this time there was an hint of guilt in his eyes. A dark suspicion hit him and he asked him, already dreading the answer: "Was that all you had to tell us?"

His suspicion was confirmed as the legionnaire showed much more clearly shame, regret and guilt all over his face before opening his mouth: "She also said that when I got to this point and only then, I was to told you that she probably had enough time to browse trough our archives, that she probably already got what she needed and that she was sorry for the inconvenience."

"You brought such a dangerous creature to the heart of the Empire and left us in the dark until it was too late to defend ourselves?" was the indignant shout of Count Marx.

"I couldn't do otherwise, she said that until she left the Palace we would all still under control, she said that if I tried anything to stop her then she wouldn't had a need for a messenger any longer and told me to keep in mind what happened to who proved to be no longer needed." The man along with the other surviving soldiers had all paled and looked absolutely frightened.

"Guards! Take hold of those men immediately! Bring them to the dungeons, we will judge them later! Have all men patrol the corridors and close all access to the Palace, no one gets in or out until we found the intruder!" Catus shouted red with anger.

"Wait!" the man pleaded, even as guards were already taking hold of his arms "That' not all! She had one last message! I have one last thing to say!"

Emperor Molt raised his hand to stop them, then turned to the man: "What is it then? Speak up!"

"She said to take a closer look at the table your Majesty."

At first the four men surrounding it were confused, then an hint of fear showed on their faces and they began moving away from the table surface all the parchments, maps, scrolls and books they had previously layered on it. It wasn't until a very large map depicting all of Falmart was removed that they saw it and when they did a shiver went down their spines.

In any other circumstances one would have praised the impeccable calligraphy, they would be astonished by the care that the writer went trough in engraving those words on a piece of parchment no bigger than their thumbs while still making sure they were clearly legible and some would be wondering how could a foreigner show such knowledge of a tongue to which they were stranger. But to those four men the only thing that mattered was that such a message have been left for them to find in such a matter, with no one being the wiser about how it had been possible.

On the table laid a single slip of parchment and on it were a single sentence.

 _Thanks for the informations, we hope_ _we can have soon fun together, with love, the Yakumo._

* * *

Lieutenant Akira Yanagida always thought of himself as an hard-working member of the JSDF; especially for one with his specialization as intelligence officer, climbing the ranks all the way to his position had been no easy task, which is why after making his research on the so called Hero of Ginza he was left with a bitter taste in his mouth. Things got only worst in his opinion once the preparation for the expedition beyond the Gate got to full speed; those with role such as his own worked day and night to be sure no possible threat was left unchecked and to be ready for whatever was expecting them on the other side. All things considered it was a task as boring and taxating as they could come; so far both scouts and drone operators had done nothing but staring at the far away masses of a gathering army and as consequence officers like him had nothing new to report. There was a moment, a few days before, when one of the drones had caught at the corner of its camera view some movements far too close to the Gate for their own liking, but then it turned out to be just a fox, although one with an unusual golden fur.

So when they requested his presence to deal with an unexpected problem, he was relieved to be finally able to put his head to a different use after so much time. That of course didn't mean he wasn't concerned; apparently they caught a civilian sneaking around the still under construction dome that would assure the complete isolation of the Gate from the rest of Tokyo and despite her collaboration once apprehended and other extenuating circumstances such as her age that would otherwise translate to releasing her after a slap on the wrist and an hard lecture, they still wanted him to conduct an interrogation. While it was true that the dome was yet to be completed, the surveillance should have been more than enough to keep an high-school girl out, so either she wasn't as innocent as she looked at first sight or she truly was who she told to be and their guards were much worse than he had anticipated.

Finally he reached the room where she had been brought and stopped just outside the door, where an MP officer was waiting for him with a folder in his hand. "Good evening Sir" the man saluted him at which he waved his hand.

"At ease, what can you tell me about our guest?"

"Nothing much really, she was caught just as she was trying to trespass at the Easter Section, we stopped her and brought her in for questioning. If anything she didn't act as you would expect from someone who could likely be charged with trespass on military properties, you would have thought she just won a free ticket for an amusement park."

Yanagida took the folder and shook his head: "She probably don't realize the full implication of her action" then he frowned as he began reading through the notes of the previous round of questioning "She's still a minor, have you contacted her parents?"

"We tried, but apparently they're both out for business meeting, they probably wouldn't be here for at least a day and the lawyer that's supposed to be here for her is still a few hours away. Not like it stopped her from talking, I'm seriously beginning to think she consider all of this as some sort of talk-show."

"Then I say it's time for her to face reality" replied Yanagida as he made his way in the room and toward the table. On the other side was sitting a girl he now knew to be sixteen, wearing what looked like the summer uniform of a school; together with her brown hair tied in pigtails and her red framed glasses she didn't look like anything like out of the ordinary, but he knew better than to let himself be fooled by the appearances.

"I'm Lieutenant Yanagida, I've been appointed to conduct the investigation regarding your trespass on military grounds. You're Sumireko Usami, age sixteen, student at Higashifukami High. Would that be correct?"

She nodded, seemingly barely interested in the conversation, something which made him frown deeply. "Have you been informed of your right to hire a lawyer and to not answer our questioning until you consulted with said lawyer?"

"Yes" she said, an undertone of boredom showing up "your colleagues already told me all the legal stuff and I already told them that I don't care."

"Not what I would assure knowing that a lawyer is already on the way to us as we speak."

"That's my parents doing then, not like they would let their model student of a daughter be tainted by something such as legal charges" she replied somewhat bitterly.

"So I take you are not opposed to answering to some of our concerns?"

Her only answer was a shrug, so he opened the folder and started speaking as he went trough the pages inside: " At hour 21:57 you have been witnessed by a patrol in the process of trespassing on military properties in what is know as the Easter Section, upon request to made your presence known and to follow the MP officers to be taken into custody you complied. A later body search revealed the presence on your person of the following items: one black hat, one black cloak which interior has been decorated with runes, one bent spoon, one fist sized crystal skull and one crystal ball, one deck of playing cards..."

"They're zener cards."

"Pardon me?"

"Zener cards, they're used to study ESP phenomenons."

Yanagida blinked, as if trying to understand what he just heard, before he finished the list of confiscated items: "And finally one tablet computer with custom case cover,decorated with an hexagram."

If instead of him the interrogation had been conducted by Itami, his diagnosis would have been a severe case of chuunibyou; since Yanagida lacked the same field of knowledge of the other officer, he only thought of the girl in front of him as an occult freak. There was however something in the report that had caught his eyes.

"Still according to the preliminary report, while you have been extremely cooperative trough most of the procedures, you seemed to have put up resistance when it came to the tablet and you have been quite adamant in requesting that such item was not put under exam, request which of course simply meant delaying the procedure until the arrival of your lawyer. Although I doubt it means much now, seeing as a sudden as much as unexplained rupture of the water pipeline drenched said item to the point of it being no longer usable."

"I expect a repayment for that."

"You're free to compile a complaint to our administration once you'll be out of our custody. Still, I'm quite curious about why you showed such reticence to the idea of that specific item being examined. Maybe you could care to explain?"

She seemed to fidget a little before coming up with a response: "There was some writings I did myself, but honestly even I can admit they were pretty bad, so I was embarrassed that someone else could read it."

"So it was nothing that could be considered illegal or sensible information, maybe about what is going on in this installation?"

"No, why would I have something like that?"

He stared at her, looking for any sign of something being amiss and saw none; while he didn't think she was specifically spying over them, it wouldn't be the first time that some overly curious civilian caught sight of something that should have been wrapped in military secrecy, so he didn't consider himself to be particularly paranoid. So he decided instead to ask about some other things that concerned him.

"When asked about the reason for your trespass you said, and I quote, that "The Gate is something so interesting that I couldn't just ignore it". Once you have been pressed to go further into detailed you claimed that for someone within your field of expertise, this was a once in a lifetime chance. What did you meant by that?"

At first she glanced around conspiratorially before turning back to him: "You see, truth is I'm the founder, president and first and only member of the Secret Sealing Club."

"Secret Sealing Club?" asked a dumbfounded Yanagida, already dreading the response.

"Yes, it is the objective of the Club to research the paranormal and investigate about the existence of other worlds or alternative realities, so it's obvious that once I learned of this Gate there was nothing else I could do but try and get a look for myself. Obviously this little detour wasn't part of the plan but since I'm here I thought I could as well give you some pointers on the matter, since I an expert an all."

"Really now?" replied Yanagida. This had rapidly turned into something he didn't know how to deal with; sure, part of his job required a certain amount of adaptability, but how was he supposed to deal with a delusional high-schooler who sneaked into military properties to find an answer to whatever occult gibberish she believed in and now had the nerve to said they could need her help?

"Yes, and what I have to say is pretty simple. Ignore the Gate and go back home" she said much more seriously than before.

Those words were something he didn't expected and so they caught him off guard, leaving him embarrassingly silent for a few seconds, until he managed to ask a question: "And why would you think that?"

"You're not ready to face the consequences of what's about to happen."

"Forgive me if I disagree, but I think a military force is more than capable of handling conflicts."

"That's not what I meant, there are things you don't know that may put you at a disadvantage."

He was beginning to get irritated, was she talking about something she knew or was she just spouting more occult nonsense?

She must had understood his thoughts for she quickly added: "I know I don't look like someone you should believe, but I speak from experience when I say that things as _peculiar_ as the Gate usually have their own way of being dealt with."

"You know, I think you're right about your lack of credibility, on that much we can agree."

She probably wanted to reply, however she was interrupted by a knocking on the door followed by a woman with short hair in a business suit carrying a briefcase. "Who're you, you interrupted a military investigation just now" asked Yanagida, irked by the sudden appearance of the woman.

"An investigation conducted while my client didn't have a chance to consult with her lawyer. I've been appointed by the parents of my client to follow her case and as such I require the immediate interruption of this interrogatory as being clearly conducted against my client's rights."

Yanagida was briefly caught of guard, he thought the lawyer was still on the way to the installation and so he expected to have at least another hour to take advantage of the girl willingness to collaborate. "Your client however didn't seemed to be overly concerned with your absence, I would dare say she seemed to be quite cooperative" he tried to counter.

"Seeing as my client is still a minor, I doubt a court would give much weight to her impression about the mean used to investigate the truth of her charges. On the other hand they'd be quite eager to take in consideration my opinion, which I should add at the moment isn't very positive in your regards. So I would ask you to leave the room while I discuss with my client a proper legal strategy."

Yanagida knew opposing such request would put him in the wrong and yet he found difficult leaving the room. He quickly review once again what they managed to know about this girl and no matter how hard he tried nothing seemed to suggest her being anything but an eccentric high-school student who didn't had the good sense to understand that sneaking around military grounds was no laughing matter. So in the end he resigned himself to leave and made his way to the door.

* * *

Sumireko watched as the officer that had been questioning her leaved the room and then turned to her "lawyer", only to see her glance around the room paying particular attention to the mirror glass on the wall in front of her, before she got closer to her and whispered: "I don't think they're listening to us, but we shouldn't be careless nonetheless, so if you say something compromising make sure you do it very quietly. Don't worry, I think my hears are good enough."

Sumireko took a better look at the woman noticing the short brown hairs and the round glasses before she too leaned closer and whispered: "My family lawyer is a man, so it's a no brainer that you replaced him; knowing you still managed to impersonate the role of family lawyer I think it's obvious where you came from. Add to that your look and it's not that difficult to know who you are. You're that tanuki, the same I met during the incident, aren't you?"

"And you seem to be still just as bright as you were at the time, although you still don't understand when an idea is unsavoury to begin with. Yes, you would be correct in your assumptions, let's say someone was at the right place and the right time to witness your troubles, and kindly decided to lend an helping hand. It is also possible that the order to contact your parents reached that very same person under a different disguise and that always that person came up with the arrival of a lawyer that wasn't contacted to begin with. So on that matter you should not worry yourself."

"And how do you plan to fool them into thinking you're a lawyer _and_ manage to get me out?"

"You seem to lack faith in my capability, I'll have you know that I long had experience in this kind of matter and this is far from the worst I had to deal with" she replied somewhat smugly.

"Nevermind, then how about you tell me why you're here? I thought you guys couldn't get out to begin with."

"Don't put all of us on the same level, I'm far more capable than what you think, but back to your question, lately there has been some unrest among some very suspicious people, so naturally I decided to conduct my own investigation. In the end I got here, which I should add is a fortunate event for the both of us."

"I can understand why it would be lucky for me, but what about you?"

"Now, now, don't act so at loss, you do seem knowledgeable enough to understand than even a pretender such as myself might still require something in exchange, call it a business transaction if you want."

Sumireko thought about it for a while, it was true that the way she worded it, it was basically blackmailing, but it was also true that it truly was a lucky chance to have stumbled into her. While it was true that her parents left her to her own enough for her to have pretty much freedom of movement all day, she was sure that being caught on military properties would have been the straw that broke the camel's back. Even if that wasn't the case there was still her tablet, while she was sure that showering it with water by breaking a pipe with her powers had put it out of commission for a while, she was sure that if a proper investigation was to be carried out then they could easily retrieve what she had in it. While she was sure her notes about Gensokyo and its people could easily be passed off as works of literature of her own making, she doubted they would be as much lenient when they would find the plan for a 3D printed gun.

In the end she truly had no other choice: "Fine, what do you want?"

The woman smiled smugly, before looking at her with a calculative look and asking: "What can you tell me about the Gate?"

* * *

 **A.N. Fun story, the lawyer idea came to me just yesterday and at first it was going to be another trick from Yukari, then i thought she didn't need all that advantage and brought in Mamizou. I might be getting slower with the update but i'm still working on this don't you worry, from now on things will only get spicier. Until then, see ya!**


	5. Faith Is for the Transient Friend

Even in a landscape as large as Gensokyo own, there where a few landmarks that were universally known for their importance. One of the most relevant was the Hakurei Shrine, said to be located on the border with the Outside World and home of the Hakurei Shrine Maiden, keeper of the balance of Gensokyo; despite this it wasn't as visited as one would expect, if one excluded the Shrine Maiden acquaintances, which being mostly youkai that got interested in her after she put them back in their place during one incident or another, only contributed to make the place even more deserted.

However this meant that if one wanted a place to conduct some activities that required secrecy, they would only have to worry about the occasional guest, which was why it had become along with the Yakumo residence the temporary base of operation for Reimu and Yukari work in resolving the latest incident. At first it did seem like an easy enough job, despite the after effect of the mess at Ginza the barrier was doing a superb job in holding up; that changed a week later the attack, when the Prime Minister announced on national TV what laid beyond the Gate.

Reimu was able to watch the broadcast along with Yukari thanks to one of those Outside World television that the gap youkai managed to get hold of; how she did so and how she managed to make it work was beyond her, what she did understand however was that the head of state just confirmed that there was indeed a fantasy land beyond the Gate and that they planned to send a detachment of their army to look for the culprit of the attempted invasion. What he didn't say but was going to be a much obvious result of those upcoming action was that said force was most likely to send back reports of all the wonders of the supernatural they would come across.

To say she wasn't worried by the development would be lying, but to say Yukari seemed to be on the verge of a stroke would have been the understatement of the century; the only way she could describe the face she made once she heard those words would be comparing her to a child that opened a box expecting to find a present, only to find it filled with cockroaches. Thinking back on it, if anything her reaction was justified, seeing as not even a moment later the end of the broadcast the barrier lost even more power and they had to spend half a day to stabilize it; the following days had turned into an hunt for more anomalies and for whatever could have got trough during the brief moment of weakness.

Reimu was just back from one of such searches and she had slumped on the table trying to catch some much needed rest; unfortunately it seemed like she couldn't have such luck, if the ominous gap that opened in front of her was any indication. Out of it walked a much worried Yukari, carrying a pile of newspapers under her arm, which she promptly settled on the table before taking a seat herself. "So" she said once she made herself comfortable "how did it went on your side of things?"

"While it wasn't a false alarm I wouldn't say it was particularly dangerous either" replied a tired Reimu "Turns out the thing that made it trough was one of those manga books Sanae talks about" she then frowned a bit before continuing "Although after giving the thing a glance hers don't look that weird anymore; I mean, what kind of weirdo would be interested in a story about a girl with magic power that work as maid to not go bankrupt?" She then huffed before taking a look at the newspapers: "Sorry I got sidetracked a bit. How about you? Looks like you _did_ find something."

"That much was obvious, but apart from the odd paper here and there, I didn't find anything concerning. We must count ourselves lucky, by this point I would have expected much worse."

In the meantime Reimu had been looking at some of those newspapers until she came up to one she couldn't make head or tail of what was written on it. "Where did you get this, it doesn't even seem to be written in Japanese" she asked.

"Because it isn't, by now you should know that the barrier spirits away both objects and people from more than just Japan."

"Of course I know that, I had to deal personally with Outsiders that didn't understand a single word of what I said" replied Reimu scowling "What I meant was that I don't understand why you picked it up, to most people this is just gibberish."

"Most people" Yukari pointed out "I prefer to not take a chance with those who do besides, have you forgotten of the lovely universal translator living in the Human Village? I believe she works at a book shop, doesn't she?"

Reimu sighed in resignation: "Right, forgot about her, I knew one day or another that girl would be trouble. So that means we have to be on the look out for even more things?"

"It can't be helped, especially in our situation, we have to keep all of this secret until we're ready."

Reimu smiled bitterly at this: "You know it's never going to work that way right? Even if by some fluke we manage to keep the barrier stable enough to avoid someone to stumble out of it and we keep all the compromising material out of reach, people are already getting suspicious or will soon start to. Just yesterday I found Kasen trying to stake me out near the shrine; apparently she had heard around that lately I've been unusually active and she wanted to know why."

"You didn't let anything slip out, did you?" asked a now concerned Yukari.

"No, I managed to convince her that it was just me being overly cautious after the Lunarian incident, but I think she's still suspecting something; she may not be able to read people trough like Miko, but she still have a pretty got sense in figuring them out. Must be an hermit thing."

For a few moments they both remained silent, if appreciating the calm or mulling things over wasn't clear, until Yukari spoke once again, this time her words almost reverberating in the empty room: "I always knew this plan wasn't perfect and to be honest I still think hoping things will go smoothly for even another couple of day is nothing but wishful optimism. Do you know however what's the worst enemy of a good plan?"

"No, I never was one for scheming, that is more of your brand of thinking" answered Reimu furrowing her brows.

"Trying to conceive a perfect plan. If I was to try to take in account all the microscopic variables involved in this incident and considering how even more unforeseen ones will appear over time, I would be able to come up with a solution only once it will be too late. It's much better to go into action with a flawed plan that I can tweak around the edges to adjust it to every new situations that could come up instead of waiting until I figured out all that could go wrong in order to make a foolproof one, only to realize I either waited to much or that there was something I missed and have the whole plan fail catastrophically."

"And how long we'll have to wait for you to have a plan at all? Not that I mind doing for once something different that beating people senseless, but it would be reassuring to know that we're not charging in blindly" Reimu said before rubbing her eyes; she didn't had a decent night of sleep since the whole mess began and she truly needed some deserved shut-eyes.

"Have patience, once Ran is back from her mission hopefully we'll have all that we need" Yukari reassured her before smiling amused, probably at some memory she just recalled.

"Right, the mission" Reimu stated evenly "Don't you think you've been too theatrical with the whole message?"

Yukari chuckle before replying "Reimu, one day you will realize that it's not the content of a message that matters but how you..." only to be interrupted by a buzzing sounds coming from somewhere in her clothes. Up to a few years ago Reimu wouldn't have any idea of what that meant, but after knowing her for so much, she now knew that Ran was trying to contact her master; as Yukari once explained her it was thanks to a couple of small boxes from the Outside World that could talk to each other. Originally it was possible only inside the confines of Gensokyo thanks to what she called a radio tower that found its way in the barrier once it had been forgotten, but lately the weakening of the barrier let those boxes occasionally able to talk even trough it; she wasn't sure she fully understood how it worked but what it meant was that, as silver lining to this incident, communication wouldn't be that much of a problem.

In the meantime Yukari had took out her box, a thin rectangular thing with a flat glass surface, before touching something and bringing it to her ear: "Yes? Oh Ran, just who I wanted to hear now, all done? Good, good, I take it all went flawlessly? Oh, you think they might have caught a glimpse of you? No, no, actually it's better, more food for thoughts for them. Yes, of course, I'll let you in just as I hang up. See you soon." She clicked some sort of button and put the object back where she kept it, before turning back to Reimu. "What did I told you? You wanted answers and soon you'll have them" Yukari told her seemingly satisfied by whatever news she just heard.

Not a second later a gap opened in the middle of the room and out of it emerged Ran carrying in her arms a pile of folders filled to the brim with papers. "Well, seems like your mission was successful, what do we have here?" asked Yukari in a tone that reminded Reimu of a child asking how many servings of dessert he could get.

"I transcribed all that looked important, history of the Empire, maps, names of vassal states, lists of supporters and enemies of their Emperor, I basically covered everything from politics to economy to military organization, religion and myths included. I also took the liberty to bring their latest reports regarding the invasion attempt and I'm sure you'll find it interesting Lady Yukari."

As she said so she took one of the folders and gave it to Yukari, her taking it and starting to read trough it immediately. As she went trough the sheets of paper inside she started talking: "Well done Ran, I would have expected nothing less from you. Now let's see what they think of their latest failure." She turned a page before looking surprised and trying to hold back a laughter: " _The enemy magic although mighty should be of no concern before the strength of the Empire_ " she quoted before laughing again "Not only they didn't realize it wasn't magic, they really think they can overcome it by sheer stubbornness? How can someone so stupid exist? Seriously, they're so idiotic I can't even pity them. Thank you Ran, I really needed a good laugh now, but I doubt this is all you wanted to show me."

"That is correct, you should find that reason soon enough Lady Yukari" replied Ran without changing expression.

Now curious, Yukari kept skimming trough the papers until she stopped in the middle of turning one and went back to reading it, as if to make sure she understood it correctly the first time. "Now, this is something you don't see every day, a prisoners list."

"Prisoners?" asked Reimu, her attention caught by the statement "You mean they brought people to their side of the Gate?"

"Yes they did, if what's written here hold any truth, most likely to use them as slaves" answered Yukari frowning in disapproval, most likely because she found it distasteful more than out of concern for those people.

Reimu reaction was far more vocal: "That's... Horrible, what kind of people would do something like that?"

"I agree with you, they really must be stupid to not find a better use for them than labour force" replied Yukari without batting an eye, which prompted Reimu to turn to her in shock, before her face settled into a scowl and she shook her head. Sometimes she needed to remind herself just who she was talking to.

"Oh?" she heard Yukari exclaim, bringing her out of her musing. "Now, would you look at that" she said in a tone that Reimu didn't like one bit "Ran, I see you took also the liberty to add some information to this list, can you confirm me if it's accurate to the last word?"

"Obviously, I did spent some more time on that with the consideration that maybe having more than just names could be useful" she then looked troubled before asking "Did I thought wrong?"

"No, no, on the contrary! I think we may just have found something that will make our job much easier, well done!"

Reimu was unnerved by how she kept smiling while tapping on the page with her finger, whatever idea she was coming up with, she knew it was something she wouldn't agree with. Suddenly she seemed to have come to a decision, so she closed the folder and stood up: "Ran, you said the Moriya were likely to know that something was amiss, didn't you?"

"Yes, considering both their abilities and their experiences they should at least have an inkling to it."

"Good, I just thought as much. For now you can continue the monitoring I was doing, look for any anomalies or for any objects that could hint at the current incident and remove them from sight. As for me, I think I just found a way to have one less group to worry about." That said she slipped into a gap and disappeared, while Ran simply left the room, leaving Reimu alone with her thoughts.

What did Yukari just meant with that? She had made no mystery to her in those last days that the folks at the Moriya Shrine were probably going to be the biggest wrench to her plan along with the residents of Eientei, but why would a list of names change anything? No, that wasn't right, Ran had added some information to the names that somehow was critical to the solution of that problem. She racked her brain in search of an answer until she had an intuition, but if she was right she had to stop her.

"Yukari, you damn hag" she growled as she too made her way out "You better not have in mind what I think you do or this time I'll exterminate you for good!"

* * *

"Dammit!" Itami said as he was searching trough his apartment, getting more and more hasteful as time passed "Dammit where did it go?"

After the announce of the government of the JSDF deployment to the Special Region, he had been called back to service to undergo trough the preparation needed; that meant that he spent more time in the barracks and on the training grounds than he did at his own home. Which is why he used his free days to add as many manga as he could to his personal effects; this day was no different, he came back to his apartment and started to browse trough his collection to decide what was worth bringing back to the base and what could wait until he returned, when he remembered about a particular volume of his favourite series that he hadn't touched in years and so, deciding to indulge in his nostalgia he looked for it trough his shelves. Which then brought to his current situation.

"Dammit how could I've lost it? It was a special edition of the third volume of MeiCom, it even had the author signature, how could I've lost something so precious?"

Despite the despair gripping at his heart, he kept on searching, hell-bent on not giving up, maybe even turning upside down the whole apartment if it was necessary; so focused he was on his self-appointed mission that he didn't notice the shape of two people looking at him from a balcony in front of his own.

* * *

"Are you sure that's the guy?" asked Sumireko somewhat dubious as she put down a pair of bynoculars.

"Of course I am, I've done my research and that, my reluctant assistant, is the famed Hero of Ginza, now First Lieutenant Youji Itami" replied Mamizou, smiling once the word "assistant" left her mouth.

"Looks more like Captain Otaku to me and could you stop rubbing salt in the wound? I get it, you saved me from a pretty tight spot and now I owe you, but reminding me of it constantly is annoying."

"Maybe for you, but it's been a while since the last time I could call someone like that and it's just as funny as I remembered" said the older woman, clearly enjoying her discomfort down to the last bit "But back to our man, despite his appearance, as of right now is one of the most important people in this whole situation."

"That much I can get, but why are we tailing him? You told me we would work on understanding more about the Gate and what's beyond that, I didn't sign up to watch a grown man fall into the depth of despair because he lost a manga book" replied Sumireko in irritation, with a note of disgust when talking about the poor show they just witnessed.

In response Mamizou shook her head "This is exactly why you end up in trouble all the times, you can't see the bigger picture. While my ultimate goal is what lies ahead of the Gate, I would be foolish to ignore the relevance the JSDF will have, thus why we need to keep an eye out for this fellow." She was interrupted by a bookcase falling in the apartment of the man, shortly followed by a cry of pain "Not what I meant, but this count too. As of right now he has more influence than that of any other officers of his grade, while being much easier to get to than any of his superior. If we want any semblance of control over their movements, then our safest bet is to get in touch with our dear Lieutenant over there."

Sumireko seemed to be thinking over what she just heard before coming up with a question: "And how do you plan to do it? It's already hard enough now that he spend most of his time in a base where some people might recognize our faces, how are we going to do it once he will be in another world with the only entry point being in the middle of what looks like the local branch of Area 51?"

When she turned to her companion she was surprised to find her grinning confidently, as if she expected her to ask about it. "That's why your help is fundamental to the success of this mission, it can only works if we both put to use our powers."

"Our powers?"

"Exactly, my ability to disguise myself and other things combined with your occult powers open up a lot of paths for us to go trough. Of course, first we need to do some fine tuning" she said before turning to a still confused Sumireko "Tell me, how much experience do you have in infiltration?"

* * *

Another impressive landmark within Gensokyo was Youkai Mountain, the highest peak in the whole land and one of the more dangerous place for humans. Despite this it was mostly famous for two reasons: the first for being home to both the kappa, famed for their technological prowess, and the tengu, by far the largest militarized community in Gensokyo; the other was the presence of the Moriya Shrine and of its inhabitant who took residence near the top of the mountain, a place who anyone else would have thought too close to the territorial tengu for comfort.

To be honest, they did try to drive them off from what they perceived as their territory, however it proved to be harder than they expected since those intruders were respectively two ancient goddesses and their shrine maiden who also happened to be of divine heritage and a living god herself; so in the end the tengu simply decided it was better for their own interest to have peaceful relationship with the three of them and let them be.

After a brief confrontation with the local shrine maiden the residents of the Moriya Shrine spent most of their days uneventfully, the occasional incident being the exception to the rule. That day was shaping up to be just the same or at least it was before a certain gap youkai showed at the door asking for an audience with the whole crew; at the moment she was seated at a table while looking as laid back as possible, while the other three people in the room were looking at her with various degree of concern.

"So..." started a woman with short blue hair and red eyes "You said we needed to talk but you have been simply sitting there without saying a word. Care to tell us what's this all about?" That woman was Kanako Yasaka, the current god of the shrine and to say she found Yukari visit suspicious would be an euphemism.

"My, my, can't I just have wished to see how you were doing out of niceness?" asked Yukari while covering her face with a fan, although by the lines which reached her eyes one could tell she was smirking.

"No, that's sounds unlikely" replied bluntly the goddess while adjusting her red dress and the mirror hanging over her chest "If it was anyone else, maybe, but you wouldn't spend a breath over anyone if you didn't think it could help you in some way."

"It really hurt me to know this is what you think of me" she said in mock sadness, managing successfully to irritate the woman in front of her "But that aside, I'm here for a serious matter. Tell me, did you noticed anything unusual lately?"

While Kanako managed to looked unperturbed by the question, a small shuffling by the two people behind her told Yukari all she needed. "Let's say I might have noticed something myself and I was just curious to know who else might know something" she said almost taunting her.

"Then I would ask you to stop pretending we're both idiots, because I'm positive that we both know more than what you're implying" she responded without making any effort to hide her irritation "Instead of dancing around it why don't you just come up and say it, it's about the barrier, isn't it?"

"Your words, not mine" she answered with a much more even tone before looking straight at her "Would that make any difference if that was the case?"

"See, it told you!" chided in what appeared to be a girl no more than twelve years old with blonde hair "I knew something was off, but you dismissed it as me being paranoid. Who's paranoid now?" she said as she leaned forward, only to have to prevent her brown wide-brimmed hat from falling over her eyes, an hand showing for a moment from the oversized white sleeve of her purple dress.

"Not now Suwako, you can have all the time for being petty about it once our _guest_ stops speaking in riddles and actually gives us a proper answer" Kanako replied while glaring daggers at Yukari.

Yukari briefly wondered on the apparent contradiction between Suwako status as older and former god of the shrine and her childish appearance and behaviour, before she sighed as if conceding some acknowledgement to Kanako request: "I guess you deserve as much, seeing as this might concern you more than most people here."

With both goddesses giving her a perplex look she rummaged in her clothes until she brought out a folded newspaper and she made it slide to the other side of the table: "As you'll learn recently the Outside World has been trough quite the commotion, especially Japan, because of an unusual event."

"Really now? And how would that be related with the barrier acting up?" Kanako asked before picking up the paper, only to widen her eyes once she saw the first page "Is... Is it true? This isn't your twisted idea of a joke right?"

"What is it? What it's all about?" asked Suwako as she tried to read the article for herself, before she managed to stick her head past the other goddess arm, showing then concern once she got a look at the page "Wow, that's the last thing I'd have expected to happen, although it does explain why the Mishaguji we're so restless lately."

"Uhm, I'm sorry to butt in..." said the only occupant of the room who so far had remained silent, a girl around the same age of Reimu with green hairs and blue eyes "...but what are you two talking about? Once you read that newspaper you both turned awfully serious and it's kinda of scaring me, did something big happened?"

"You could say it Sanae" replied Suwako as she took the paper before passing it to her shrine maiden "Unfortunately it's not the fun kind."

The girl took it gingerly with one hand while adjusting her outfit with the other; once again Yukari noticed how despite wearing clothes similar in style to Reimu, down to the detached sleeves, Sanae uniform used blue instead of red, with polka dot and stripes of a lighter shade over those areas. As she read the article, her face first turned into an expression of surprise and then into a frown once she got to the more gruesome details.

"Unbelievable, this really happened?" she asked before asking again, this time in genuine concern "Did this really happened to all those people?"

"Yes, it's all true, a magical Gate appeared in the middle of Ginza and an army of soldiers and _monsters_ came out of it before the JSDF pushed them back" replied Yukari in a tone that didn't betray any emotions "I saw with my own eyes the first hours of the invasion so I can vouch the truth of every single word of that paper, unlike some of the local ones" she added in a failed effort to lighten up the atmosphere.

The one that seemed to be affected the most by the news seemed to be Sanae, since she kept staring downcast at the table while still muttering words of disbelief: "To think that I went there myself sometimes and this happened while I was here... Those poor people..."

"Come on, I know it's sad but what happened is already done" told her Suwako while reassuringly patting her back "There's nothing we can do now, what we can do however is watch out for the tomorrow."

"For example asking dear Yukari here why telling this, to us, now of all time" added Kanako throwing a mistrustful glance at said woman "I doubt it's about some charitable reason, especially after you all but said that something is wrong with the barrier. My bet would be that this two events are somehow related."

"Nothing less to expect from the goddess of wind and rain of Youkai Mountain" remarked Yukari with no real appraisal in her voice "I believe you're all familiar enough with how the Hakurei Barrier works and how it sustain himself, so I suppose I don't have to spell it for you why this sudden surge of _supernatural_ could hinder its stability." Soon enough both goddesses showed some understanding trough their faces and, although more slowly, even Sanae managed to grasp the meaning behind those words, if her bothered expression was anything to go by.

"As I thought. Point is that as soon as I learned of the situation, both me and Reimu have been working to ensure the stability of the barrier, while gathering as much information as possible about the Gate and the natives from the land beyond. However our efforts could be for nothing since Japan has planned a military expedition trough the Gate in search of the culprits of the Ginza Incident; once that time will come, nothing will stop them from learning more about magic, gods and other "legends" that live there. No matter how hard we will try, this isn't a job that two people can do, so I've come to the only possible conclusion."

Yukari then turned as to face the three of them at the same time, composed herself and said in the most polite and respectful manner: "I, Yukari Yakumo, am formally asking your assistance in solving the current incident. I truly believe we can all benefit from this collaboration with each other."

For a few moment everyone was silent until Kanako finally responded to the unexpected request: "There's no doubt this is indeed a serious situation, one that could very well threaten all of Gensokyo and I can see why you would want as much help as possible."

"I'm glad we both understand the gravity of this incident."

"However there are still some things that puzzle me" rebutted the goddess, getting a partial confirm of her suspicions from the frown the other woman showed as she heard those words "For example, if this is such a dangerous incident, while did we heard of it just today?"

Yukari managed to smile without any nervousness as she answered the question: "Well, if such a knowledge was to go public it would bring panic, so I thought it would be better if only the most influential individuals were to know this."

"Does that mean that if I was to ask about this, let's say, the vampire, she would know about it? I imagine it would be the same for the Lunarians, right?"

The corner of Yukari mouth briefly twitched before she said with nonchalance: "Well, I thought I would be inform you first, seeing as both Reimu and Sanae are on such friendly terms."

Not even changing expression Kanako replied: "I just thought of this, but since this is an event of such scale, perhaps we should also inform the Underground, what do you say?" Just as Yukari was to answer she cut her out "Oh, I know! Sanae, why don't you go ask Satori to join this meeting? I know she's a busy person managing the Hell of Blazing Fires and all of that, but I think mentioning that Yukari over here have information about the safety of her house should be enough to grab her attention. I think we can manage to wait a few hours for this, isn't that right Yukari?"

Seeing as she remained silent Kanako kept pressing forward: "But beside that there's something else I'm curious about, why did you specifically asked for our help? Did you thought we were the more suitable for this tasks or maybe you thought we were the easiest to persuade to go along with your plan?"

She seemed to have decided to not give her a chance to come up with any explanation however, since the goddess simply kept talking: "The way I see this you're trying to keep this incident hushed down to just about anyone, so that no one will interfere with you; we probably wouldn't even have this conversation if you thought you could deal with this by yourself, however, once you realized you needed an hand, you rushed here trying to get us on your side. Did you think that since we're relatively newcomers to Gensokyo and since we spent so much time in the Outside World, we would help you without questioning you out of some sense of concern?"

"So I take you'll refuse? I didn't take you for being so cold-hearted to the sufferings of others" finally said Yukari, looking more annoyed than anything else.

"As if you were one to talk. Don't get me wrong, what happened it's surely a tragedy and I'm not as foolish as to think that this will be the end of it, however I also know that working with you means being given some tasks essential to your grand plan while being kept in the dark about your final objective. I also take that you'd expect us to keep the secret to ourself, so that mean that we can only hope that your plan will work and that you already have some contingency ready if it was to fail, with no chance to warn others about it."

"You cannot possibly believe that if this was to get public we wouldn't have to spend more time suppressing upheavals than working on the incident" countered Yukari.

"And you can't possibly believe that I wouldn't make sure that all the people that literally put their faith in us are ready for when things will take a turn for the worse" Kanako told her as it was a scolding "I can't really tell what you expected when you came here, but if you thought you could have us follow you around like your shikigami then you're not as smart as they say."

"I understand your concerns, but you're too quick to dismiss my proposal; you always spend your time looking for new followers, or so Reimu told me, so I guess you could see the advantage of exploring a land yet to be corrupted by scientific knowledge, where if a god was to show to the people they would no doubt believe at first glance."

"Or, since by how you described it I assume there are already native gods, we would be repelled by their followers the moment we step in. Don't take me for an idiot Yakumo."

"Could it be that you're actually scared of the possibility?" teased Yukari.

"I'm no stranger to war of conquest as our dear Suwako here could tell you..."

"You really take every chance to brag about it don't you?" replied annoyed said goddess.

"However, at the time I had the support of an army of faithfuls and of other gods and even then we did what we have done because we all shared the dream of a unified Japan; in this case it would just be the three of us against a whole world and for what? A risky expansion move when we have a much safer bet here in Gensokyo? Sorry to tell you, but if this was you're ace in the hole to bribe us you have done a poor job."

"No, this was just an incentive to gain your cooperation" admitted Yukari before looking for something in her clothes "This is what I thought would be enough to convince you" she said as she put a folder on the table.

"And this would be what? Some concession from the great Youkai of Boundaries herself?" asked Kanako suspiciously.

"No, it simply a list of names, to be more precise the names of Japanese citizens who have been taken prisoners by the invading force" replied Yukari as of matter of fact.

"Prisoners you say?" asked the other woman, this time with a face of concern that was mirrored by her fellow goddess and to a greater extent by Sanae "That sounds bad, but if as you said they're sending the army trough the Gate it should be a matter of time before they're rescued."

"Unfortunately that's not the case, since they don't know of their existence, the only reason I know of them is because I sent Ran on a recon mission of sort. Now, while I would like to help them out, Ran already made quite a name for herself over there, so she wouldn't be the better choice to pass unnoticed, while both me and Reimu are stuck working here for obvious reason" Yukari explained while eyeing carefully the reaction of the three people in front of her "On the other hand if I had the help of someone else, someone who could meddle with the Japanese soldiers without drawing their attention, maybe put them on the right path to find those people, who knows, maybe things could be different."

Kanako must have been quick to realized who she was hinting at, since she vehemently replied before said person had chance to utter a word: "Are you seriously asking us to send Sanae in a dangerous land of which we know nothing so that she can be your inside man? I was wrong, what you lack isn't intelligence but sanity, since you must be insane for having thought for even a moment that I would have agreed with you."

"Lady Kanako" said somewhat sheepishly the girl "I know it sounds dangerous, but if we can really help those people..."

"Sanae, no. Despite what she wants you to believe she doesn't care for those people more than she would for the first person she could meet while walking on a road, the only reason she brought this up at all was in hope that you would want to help them out of your good heart, so in turn she could sway us into following her plan."

"I know that but..." she said before interrupting herself, clearly conflicted on what to say.

Her stuttering was interrupted when Kanako gently put an hand on her shoulder and started talking slowly in a much calmer and more serious tone: "Sanae, I understand that you want to help those people, I'm not angry for it, I would do the same if the situation was different. But as of right now we can't help them, if things will get as bad as I think they will, we'll need to help much more people here to be safe. So trust me, as horrible as that sound, staying here will save more lives."

"But I could always go there myself as you keep everyone here safe, now you both have gathered enough faith for that. You wouldn't need me around for that anyway."

"And leave you all alone where you could be in danger at a moment notice?" chided Suwako from behind the pair "What kind of goddesses would be so uncaring for their faithful and loyal shrine maiden?"

"Sanae, over the years we both saw you grow up as a person and as a shrine maiden, there are few things we could care more about than you. That's why no matter how terrible the plight some people could be facing may be, we would never risk your life if we didn't knew you could handle it or we could be at your side to help you. I know it's selfish of us to ask you this, but please forget about those people, if you really want to help them we could find a way to have the authorities know about them so they could start looking for them, but under _her_ conditions we can't help them."

"I... I understand Lady Kanako, sorry for doubting you" Sanae said meekly.

"You don't need to apologize, I would have expected nothing less from you, I know you're a good girl."

The atmosphere was however broken by a sudden voice: "Despite how heart-warming this scene may be I take this is a no."

"You guessed right" answered Sukawo, throwing a glance that one wouldn't expect to be so threatening at Yukari "Now I believe you overstayed our hospitality, so could you leave us alone?"

For a few tense moments both goddesses stared at her as if expecting some violent reaction to such an outright refusal, until she shrugged and said: "Sure, it's not like anything I'll say could change your opinion."

She then took the folder from the table and went to hide it back in her clothes, but at the last moment a paper managed to slip out of it and conveniently landed in front of Sanae. "Ops, my bad, could you please give it back to me?" she asked innocently.

The girl however seemed to be looking at some words near the top of the page, her expression rapidly growing frightened. "Sanae, what's wrong?" asked Suwako concerned before giving a glance at the paper herself still not understanding why she was acting like that. Instead of answering her she turned to Yukari and tried to speak trough her quivering lips.

"Y-You said that all the name in that folder were prisoners, right? Are you about that? C-Can you say for certain that all of those names were truly people taken prisoners?"

"Of course I can, Ran herself went trough the trouble of getting them from those guys archives and was even considerate enough to look for more details about those kidnapped people" she said without paying any particular attention to the conversation "Why you ask?"

She pointed a trembling finger on the page before managing to say a few strained words: "T-This girl, I-I knew her. She was m-my senior when I still was in highschool. S-She was one of the few that didn't think I was weird after I began to talk about gods and miracles a-and we even became friends before she graduated. A-And now she... And now she's... she is..."

"In captivity at the hand of a violent Empire who ransacked Ginza out of boredom? Yes she is, but as you just said you won't help me and unfortunately I'm the only one with the means to find her" Yukari stated coldly "Well, too bad for her, people go missing every day, she's just another casualty."

By then Sanae had brought up a shaking hand to cover her mouth, while her eyes where wide with shock, but it didn't stop Yukari from not showing any pity: "But you're right, even if by now she has been already enslaved and sold to someone, I'm sure that simply telling the authorities about it will be enough, that's if they don't beat her to death before, from what Ran has learned her captors aren't exactly the nicest of people."

She ignored both goddesses furious glare and the tear that silently rolled down the girl face: "Don't worry, usually women have it lighter, they end up doing house chores, unless of course she becomes some noble plaything, in that case she might as well be dead. I wouldn't give her more than a few months until he becomes annoyed of her and throw her away like a broken doll..."

" _You bitch!_ "

Few could have seen what happened, what was clear to all to see however was that the table had been casted aside and a livid Kanako was now pinning Yukari against a pillar. "You knew this already!" she shouted while giving her a murderous glare "The whole point of this visit was to have Sanae make that discovery, so she would have no choice but to join you! No wonder so many think of you as a plague, only the worst of scum would come up with a plan like that!"

"Kanako stop this!" shouted Suwako "While I agree that our _guest_ need a lesson now isn't the time or place for that, especially if this is how you want to deal with her."

"Don't try to act as if you were above it! I know for sure that you want no less than me to beat her until she'll wish to be dead!"

Before anyone else could reply, the door to the room slammed open and Reimu rushed in just in time to take in all of the scene: "I knew I wouldn't make it in time."

"You took your sweet time, didn't you Hakurei" snarled Kanako while still keeping her hands on Yukari.

Ignoring the insult Reimu began to talk: "Look, I don't know what she was talking about, but you don't need to concern yourself with this, I'll do it myself!"

"You're right Reimu, you clearly have no idea what we're talking about here" Yukari managed to say despite Kanako earnest effort to strangle her "Supposing the barrier won't degrade any faster in the future, the both of us could keep it stable for at least a couple of year; however, if you were to leave this plane of existence for more than a few days, I'd dry myself out in a few months in the effort to keep it from shattering. You can't leave Gensokyo, no matter what, or else you'll condemn all of us."

"How about this instead" asked Kanako "I'm going to keep beating you around until you stop playing your damn games and you bring back those people and stop this damn incident, then you can go to hell for all I care!"

"If I could I would already done so, that Gate prevents me from using the full extent of my power."

"For some reason I don't feel very inclined to believe you."

"Stop this, all of you!"

Four heads turned towards the only other occupant of the room, now in the middle of wiping away some tears. "Sanae? What are you saying now?" asked a confused Suwako.

"All of you stop this. Lady Kanako please, I know what she has done is horrible, but you shouldn't act like this, this is not who I grown to respect as a person other than as a god" she said, leaving the goddess to look ashamed as she slowly released Yukari "And Reimu. I know you really mean it, you're that good of a friend, but Yukari is right, you can leave, it's your duty to remain. I'll be the one to go."

"Sanae..."

"Lady Kanako please, let me finish. I know you're worried and you think this will be needlessly dangerous, but that girl was my friend, she was one of the few that didn't think I was insane and instead she told me that she believed what I told her, that I had a gift and she had no doubt I'd make good use of it. You always told me that one day I could become a god myself, that even now I should think trough that prospective. You told me that is a god duty to repay those who grant them faith, and it was a responsibility to protect those who believe in us. What kind of god I would be if I couldn't even save one girl who put that much faith in me?"

Nobody made a sound until after a few second Kanako sighed before shaking her head: "Sanae, you know you don't have to prove nothing to anyone, I can tell if you were to fully ascend to godhood now you'll be perfectly fitted for your duty."

"I'm not doing this to prove a point, I'm doing this because I fell it's the right thing to do."

Once again Kanako looked resigned before turning to Yukari and showing once again a mask of hostility: "If I say we'll help you with this crazy plan of yours, can you promise me you'll make sure Sanae will be safe?"

Yukari looked at her as if she had just been offended before replying: "I don't know what they told you, but I take very good care of my business partners, I'll do everything in my power to keep her away from harm."

"You better be, or else you'll learn why back in the days they thought I was a god of war" replied menacingly the other woman.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure she is giving her all" added Reimu while still eyeing disapprovingly the youkai.

"So, does this mean we have a deal?" asked Yukari.

Kanako glanced one more time around the room, exchanged some stares with Suwako and finally turned back to her: "Deal."

* * *

 **A.N. Sorry it took so long, procrastination combined with my laptop battery acting up are a bad combo, i will however slow down my schedule so don't expect next chapter too soon. That said now we're ready to get to Falmart, things are as spicy as they could be. On a side note i enjoyed a bit too much writing this Yukari so before i turn into a sadistic monster i'm gonna go look for cat pictures. In the meantime, see ya!**


	6. Troublesome Mysterious Gods

As Princess Pina Co Lada made her way trough the Imperial Palace, she was thinking about what felt like an official mission despite being a choice she made herself; just a few hours prior she heard news that the army assembled to retake the Gate from the otherworlders had been defeated in just three days. Considering the numbers and the skill of the troops that had been deployed, such a resounding defeat was a cause of concern for the future of the Empire; as such she felt that it was her duty as member of the Imperial bloodline to seek audience with her father and learn of what countermeasures he though of to repel the invaders. That what she kept telling herself on the way to the Throne Room.

To think however that was all to her visit would have been a mistake or, in Pina case, lying to herself; the truth was that ever since the return of the survivors of the first expedition, many rumors had been spreading about what laid ahead of the Gate. Some said that the lands beyond where home to powerful mages that used their magic to destroy the Imperial Legion sent to fight them, others claimed spirits or even gods watched over those territories and that it was their wrath that the Legionnaires had faced. There was a rumour in particular that had been spreading between the remaining soldiers since their few surviving comrades made it back, a story about an eerie presence who manifested itself as a black cat following the soldier from afar until the enemy magic struck them with deadly force; it was thanks to this rumour that now many had come to believe in the supernatural nature of their enemies and that a sudden wave of superstitions regarding the appearance of black cats had been born.

But that wasn't what troubled her the most, instead, what kept her and probably many others in the highest rank of the Imperial Government awake at night, was probably the worst breach in security in the history of the Empire. Despite being an event older than two months, the number of those who knew about it was most likely no more than twenty individuals at best, of which more than half were Imperial Guards who had been involved personally in the first response to what to those outside of that secretive inner circle had been explained as a false alarm caused by one of the older, and less reliable when it came to his senses, servant of the Palace. Of course Pina knew that said explanation was nothing more than a facade to hide the inconvenient truth capable of dealing an hard blow to the trust in the Empire strength.

Not only an intruder managed to sneak past what was supposed to be an impenetrable guard and entered the Palace, but she managed to retrieve from their archives documents that could reveal vital information about the Empire and even escaped once her presence had been revealed. Few was known about the mysterious spy that accomplished such a feat, except what the guard who noticed her first had witnessed; said guard was repaid for his effort with a knife in the shoulder, courtesy of the same woman that he tried to stop. Once the breach had been discovered and he had been rescued, the appearance of the intruder was known down to the last detail of her clothes and even to that day every patrol headed for the city street knew of such details and both the status of said person as wanted for grievous crimes against the Empire and the degree of danger of a direct confrontation with her.

Some details however had been kept secret, for good reason Pina could have said, especially since it would have raised unnecessary questions; one of these concerned the woman species, which had been reported as Fox-woman. While not necessarily false, following strictly that definition meant omitting the peculiar fact that this woman in particular had not one but various tails, nine if the witness of the assaulted guard was to be trusted. Another fact they withheld was the circumstance in which the guard had been wounded; while the weapon used, a small hiltless knife with a triangular blade, was a mystery in itself, since nobody had ever saw before such craftsmanship, what they found concerning was that despite being thrown, it managed to pierce trough high quality Imperial armour and sank halfway trough the man shoulder. This alone told either of some magical property of the blade or of enormous strength of the user, whatever the case that woman wasn't one to be trifled with.

The most concerning information however, wasn't one they learnt about trough any investigation or report from the victim, but one the intruder herself made sure would be told to them in the most theatrical fashion; Pina had to admit that using as messengers captured legionnaires that she previously had beaten half to death and making them uncover an ominous message that even their best mages and generals had no idea of how it had been delivered did the trick. Ever since that day, paranoia had become a spreading disease between the trusted people who had been informed of the event and Pina was no different; many questions had been lifted by the incident and despite her effort she didn't find any answers and knowing that nobody else did was in no measure worrying her any less.

Just who was that woman which strength, despite being unknown, was definitely above human limits? Who was the master she worked for, that seemed to possess some sort of unexplained power? Who were the Yakumo, mentioned in the short message left for the Emperor and his advisers to see, and how were they tied to the world beyond the Gate? And finally, what or who was the Wedding Fox and what role did it have in the upcoming future? If the Empire was to survive the upcoming war, Pina felt that answering those question would mean making a step in the right direction.

While she had those thoughts, she arrived in front of the Throne Room closed doors; steeling her resolution she took a deep breath and barged in, determined to ask her father what _he_ planned to do for the safety of the Empire.

* * *

General Hazama and other high ranking officers had yet to cross trough the Gate; despite successfully securing the other side in what had to be the most one-sided battle in recorded history, the location known to the enemy as Arnus Hill was still in the process of being fortified. As the brass were dealing with the logistics, trench had been dug, artillery pieces had been positioned and razor wire had been stretched over the future battleground; despite losing over hundreds of _thousands_ of soldiers in battle, there was no telling if the enemy had even more men to spare. At the moment the only thing that saved them from a massive surprise attack was their opponent slowness both in communications and deployment of troops, unless they were hiding some tricks up their sleeves at their current speed they would known of any gathering of forces in advance of days.

This however didn't meant that there weren't matters to be concerned with at the moment, just as Lieutenant Yanagida was dutifully reminding him: "So far we have no aerial units beyond the Gate, we managed to counter the ones of the enemy with our AA battery, but the sooner we can fight them in their own field the better; there is also the problem of recon, drones and scouts can only get so far and a proper aerial reconnaissance could do wonders for our understanding of the terrain."

To be honest those were all problems of which Hazama was already aware of, but if letting Yanagida believe he was relaying vital information meant he would leave him sooner to deal with the real head-scratchers, then he saw no problem with his babbles. "Anything else I should know of?" he asked more out of boredom than of true concern.

"Well, we did get a report from a quartermaster about some discrepancies in the number of small arms and ammunition, but we're talking of such minimal differences that I wouldn't put past him to have done some mistakes when he made the inventory."

"Really now?" he asked interested for the first time since he began listening to the report "Do keep an eye on the matter anyway, I don't feel too safe with ignoring it completely."

"I've already prepared to do so Sir" replied Yanagida satisfied.

That was something that irritated him to no end, as if knowing that Yanagida spent all his time looking for a chance to climb higher in the social ladder, stepping on others heads if necessary, wasn't enough, he also had the annoying attitude to ask for directives to his superiors only to reveal once they gave them to him that he was already working on them. He was sure that some other officers would probably try to strangle him next time his answer to their orders would be among the lines of "Already done Sir!" He just hoped they could at least show enough self-control to not do so, despite his flaws Yanagida was one of their best intelligence officers.

"Now, you got everything else to say?"

"Actually yes Sir, it's about the "guest" we'll bring with us" replied Yanagida in a serious tone.

"Found some skeleton in the closet that the higher ups missed, like you thought you would?" he asked him half-jokingly.

He got his answer the moment the man in front of him suppressed a grimace: "No, so far no matter who I ask or how deep I dig in her past, our little miss is still as white as snow."

This time it was Hazama who had to force down a frown in front of Yanagida disrespectful attitude; while it was true that the expert they had been appointed with was relatively young and she achieved her doctorate less than two years before, it was no excuse to dismiss her like that, if anything he felt like this was a proof of her competence in the field. He pushed those thoughts aside and instead he decided to inquire as to why he brought her up in the first place.

"Then why did you mentioned her? If memory serves, last time we had a conversation about her you weren't exactly thrilled about her following us, in fact I believe you thought she was some kind of spy that somehow got past all sort of scrutinies."

"And if I recall correctly Sir, you first thought of her as an annoyance" Yanagida retorted.

Hazama would have liked to explain him how he got over it once he realized those orders weren't someone whim and that at least he didn't felt the need to turn her in some sort of boogeyman, or boogeywoman in this case, but then he realized he would have side-tracked the conversation so he simply ignored the remark.

"Just get to the point, what did you have to tell me about her?"

"Simply that she finally arrived and is now waiting just as the rest of us for the situation to stabilize before crossing the Gate and begin her work."

The general blinked before asking: "That's it? I figured that if you thought you should mention her there should have been some more serious motives."

"I thought you might have wanted to talk with her in person, seeing how it would be the first time she's not hidden behind pages of documentation" Yanagida told him, although that last remark seemed to be trying to imply something.

"Fine, when that time will come I'll have you invite her for a talk, if that's all you're free to go."

He barely noticed as Yanagida leaved the room, he was too worried about the behaviour of said man; ever since they've been notified about the unexpected addition of a researcher to their expedition force, he had been awfully suspicious about the whole deal. While being paranoid was pretty much part of the job of an intelligence officer, Yanagida managed to overdo it, to the point that many would said he was obsessed as to why such a choice was made and why such a peculiar person had been chosen for the job. Despite how much Hazama didn't want to admit it, the thought that maybe leaving him free to conduct his own unofficial investigation may have helped worsening his attitude had been crossing his mind an awful lot in those last days.

In the end he could only hope he would realize the was no hidden scheme before he did something that he would regret later.

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea? To me it sounds dangerous."

"Of course it is. Don't tell me, you feel the need to concern yourself with my safety?"

"Considering that, just as you like to point out at every given occasion, you helped me out of a bad spot, it's safe to say that I wouldn't be too thrilled to witness my benefactor demise, even if said benefactor is coercing me into helping her out with her crazy plan."

In the months before the deployment of the JSDF trough the Gate, Sumireko had been preparing together with Mamizou to make their own move. Now that the day of their first step had come, they hid close to the dome surrounding the structure and waited for a chance to slip trough the security, although to be honest it would be Mamizou the one to sneak in, Sumireko would get her chance to shine only if the first part of their plan would be successful. Which was why now that her partner in crime told her the mean trough which she planned to infiltrate the military compound, she felt genuinely worried.

"You worry too much, if I was so easy to take care of, then I wouldn't have lived as long as I did" replied Mamizou dismissively.

"You're planning to hide in a cement truck drum, that's not what I would call a reasonable idea" retorted Sumireko.

"It's not like I plan to spend the whole journey hiding in it you know? I just need a way to get in without alerting anybody and since we can't see past this dome, it's not like you can just teleport me in. For all we know you could appear in front of all of the commanding officers."

"I'm just worried about the success of this plan, we don't even know yet if the second half of it will work" said Sumeriko, finally voicing out her concern.

"Trust me, it will work. Besides it all depends on your powers, I figured you would have much more self-confidence than this."

"When I did this to enter Gensokyo it was different, I already had some sort of link with it to begin with and even then I could do it only briefly. To be honest, I still don't understand how I now can manage to astral project myself there in my sleep, what makes you think I could do something similar with the other side of the Gate?"

"To be perfectly honest? I don't know myself" Mamizou stated, causing the young girl to stare at her in disbelief. However, before that incredulity could turn into irritation she quickly added: "Don't get me wrong, when it comes to the success rate of this plan I believe it to be more than satisfactory, but if you're asking me if I think it's infallible then the answer is no. We do know however that by using a Power Stone from certain location is possible to link two separate planes of reality, it was after all the premise of your entire plan back then. You're also the only one who seem to be fairly efficient in controlling this sort of power, probably because of your own innate abilities."

Despite hearing this explanation once again, Sumireko couldn't help but still remain a bit sceptical, so far this was the best plan they came up with to explore what had been called the Special Region without the limitation of crossing the Gate and the whole premise behind it was a theory that in the best of cases was plain flimsy. However she also knew that the longer they waited, the harder it would be to get there unnoticed, so there truly was no other choice.

"I guess there no helping it then, you're going in, you'll look for a suitable place from which you'll get a Power Stone and, if nobody catch you first, you'll bring it back so I can use my powers to have a free access to the Special Region. Let's just hope you're right and we aren't wasting time" Sumireko stated bitterly.

"Don't be silly, even if we're wrong at least we'll know that it didn't work, it's definitely not a waste of time. Besides, if it comes down to the worst of it, we could always piggyback off some vehicles our ways in and out, it might get tiring doing it too often but at least we know it will work."

Sumireko didn't know if the tanuki was just being optimistic or if she was just that confident in the result of her ruminations, but from her short experience when it came to Gensokyo denizens and their thought processes, she knew better than to try to question it. Instead she merely stated in response: "Fine, whatever, I guess this mean this is where we part our ways."

"Just for a bit but don't worry" Mamizou said before smiling mischievously "I promise I'll be back, my trusty _assistant_."

"I hate you when you call me that."

"I know, that's why it's so funny."

* * *

If anyone was to keep an eye on the abandoned village of Mayohiga they would have noticed that lately it was bustling with activity; even at the moment inside one of the bigger building four people were sitting around a table and looking at an admittedly eerie gap floating over the surface of said piece of furniture. Looking inside of it one would be met with a bird's-eye view of military buildings surrounding an ancient looking structure that reminded of a gate although of huge proportion; walking in the streets between the buildings a girl was approaching a tent, while being tailed at short distance by a female soldier.

So far Yukari's plan had been going on without an hitch, but that was mostly the result of weeks of careful preparation. Once she got the support of the Moriya Shrine the rest was downhill from there; despite the rocky start, over time the tension between her and the two goddesses somewhat lessened, while they weren't going to bury the hatchet just yet, at least the death threats had been reduced to once a day. Of course that wasn't to say getting so far had been without efforts.

If they were to get Sanae to infiltrate successfully the JSDF while at the same time reducing as much as possible the danger of an involvement in combat, they had to find a civilian role that could be accepted by the commanding officers without too many questions. Despite requiring some creativity, she finally came up with the idea of an expert of "folklore" to help them understand what they would see and some forged documents and altered memories later, the young shrine maiden had become three years older, had gained a fancy sounding doctorate and even changed her surname. After that the same means had ensure that her arrival would look like something that had been planned by people far too high in the social ladder to be openly questioned about their decisions; of course each one of said people also believe that that they simply added their signature to papers that their colleagues had already approved of.

Once that had been taken care of, she thought of some others details to make her presence even more believable and acceptable, for example a recommendation and undergoing a physical scrutiny. The first had been surprisingly easy, mainly thanks to Sanae own actions when she still lived in the Outside World; apparently one of her classmates back in middleschool was gravely ill and young Sanae thought she could use her power over miracles to improve her condition. Back then she must have severely underestimated her capabilities if the doctors shock over the girl _miraculous_ recover was anything to go by; while the girl father was as much in the dark as the next person as to what happened, he must have made some connection between her frequent visits and her already developing fame of weird girl that talked about gods and divine power. It was therefore by mere luck that she gained the gratitude of who turned out to be a JSDF enlistment officer.

Even the physical evaluation wasn't too much of an hassle, although fights in Gensokyo had become non-lethal ever since the introduction of the Spell Card Rules, being proficient in a Spell Card Battle required a certain level of athletic prowess, to the point that with a few exceptions all of the most skilled users would have virtually no problem with proper training to join Olympic Games or, in Sanae case, satisfy military standards.

They even took care of her unusual hairs colour, although not as properly as she would have wanted; for some reason Sanae thought that manipulating boundaries to turn her hairs to a more inconspicuous shade implied the risk for some sort of unpredictable mutation and no matter how much Yukari told her otherwise, in the end she resigned to let her use a dye. Seeing how much trouble she went trough for working on her hairs colours, Yukari decided that instead of facing another tantrum for the eyes, they could pretend Sanae new identity had some western ancestry and chalk it up to that for any doubts about Sanae uncommon eyes colour.

What turned out to be more difficult instead was ironically Sanae knowledge in what should have been her field of work; despite being a shrine maiden and the descendant of a goddess, when it came to folklore and youkai she was embarrassingly clueless, if her mistaking a raijuu for a more popular "electric rat" was to be taken as proof. Therefore this turned out to be the perfect excuse for the Moriya Shrine goddesses to finally give her a proper education on the matter, with Reimu and Yukari giving no little help either, Reimu thanks to her experience in the craft and Yukari as a result of centuries of worldwide travels.

Despite all of that they were finally ready to put the plan in motion; so far any trouble had yet to rise and Sanae had been allowed inside the dome surrounding the Gate with no problem. She would be stationed there along with the higher ranking officers and all the no-combat personnel for a few days since apparently a massive battle had just taken place in the Special Region and the JSDF wanted to see if any other assault would be launched against them. That meant that for the moment Sanae was still far away from any actual danger but that didn't seemed to be enough to keep a certain blue haired goddess from voicing out loud her doubts.

"This is bad, the more time she spends idling around, the more likely it's they'll notice something is amiss."

"I thought your greatest concern was what would happen the moment she crossed the Gate" Yukari inquired.

Kanako briefly glanced at her with contempt before replying: "Yes, but I think is fair to say martial court isn't that much better of an alternative."

"You know, it almost sounds like you don't believe in the success of this plan."

"Considering who is putting her life at risk I think I deserve to be as much as sceptical as I'd like."

Yukari scoffed before telling her: "Were this any other situation I'd find your lack of faith disturbing, but I'd lie if I said that I'm not worried about it."

She quietly watched for a few moments the scene showed by her gap before resuming: "This plan is mostly based on gambles, but that doesn't mean Sanae will go trough unnecessary risks; the pendant I gave her has a more powerful variant of the enchantment I used to keep in contact with Reimu during the Underground Incident, so we should be able to talk with each other if we need it. Aside from that Ran has orders to meet with her periodically, both for checking her progress and relay orders and to ensure everything is going smoothly; worst comes to worst I personally gave her authorization to bring her back by every means possible and I think Reimu can tell you just how much powerful a shikigami of Ran's caliber can be when it's actually acting out its master will."

"If by that you mean being almost as annoying to deal with as you, then by all mean she's stupidly strong" Reimu told her absent-mindedly.

"But once she cross that Gate we will be cut out until we reach out for her with that pendant of yours" Kanako insisted "There's so much that can go wrong and I swear, if something happens to her..."

"Kanako" Suwako interrupted her "as much as I agree with your concern and distrust toward our _ally_ , your daily reminders of horrible death are getting old, I believe you had already covered most of the possible ones two weeks ago. Besides, showing some optimism now of all time wouldn't hurt, afterall you wouldn't have let Sanae go anyways if you thought she couldn't handle this, at least give her credit for her achievements by thinking this mission won't be a total failure."

The goddess grumbled quietly to herself, alternating glancing inside the gap and staring with hostility at Yukari, before she finally conceded Suwako point: "Fine, but until she's back home safely don't expect me too..."

"Kanako?" Suwako asked once she noticed the other woman fixing her gaze at something the gap showed "Did you saw something?"

"That soldier over there..." she said while pointing a vaguely visible figure at the edge of the gap field of view.

"Yes, what about him?" asked Suwako concerned as to what could have caught her attention like that.

"Just where he think he can stare at?" she shouted taking the other three people in the room off guard "I knew this was a bad idea, not only Sanae is all by herself in an unknown land, she also surrounded by damn pigs!"

For a few seconds nobody said a word, until finally Reimu sighed before muttering to herself: "Talk about mood swings."

The other goddess reaction was far more confused: "Is this really something we should worry about now?"

"Of course it is, do you have any idea of what a bunch of soldiers are like after a few months on duty away from women?" Kanako replied without missing a beat.

"You know, after seeing you acting like this I almost think this is a good experience for Sanae to go trough. _Almost_ " she quickly added cutting off Kanako reply while also glaring at Yukari, as if she expected her to try to take advantage of her statement.

"Kanako's interesting musings aside, I think it would be better if Sanae developed some kind of relationships during this mission" said Yukari while trying to get the conversation back on track "For the kind of information we need simply asking around may not be enough, she may need to gain some trust before gaining any valuable knowledge."

"Didn't you also said that given the existence of native magical users and gods, the more time she spent there, there more likely it was for one of aforementioned individuals to notice Sanae _peculiarity_ that set her apart from the JSDF troopers?" asked Kanako in doubt.

"Yes I did it, but the barrier condition has worsened to the point that I won't be long before someone uncover what is going on" Yukari stated gravely.

"You mean the spirited away Outsiders right?" Reimu asked despite already knowing the answer.

"Exactly, usually their numbers are so low that the idea of talking about a monthly rate of appearances would be ridiculous, however we have found two just this week; at this rate it won't be long before we will count them on a daily basis. Of course the Outside World would have found our existence far before we can get to that point, but you get the idea."

"And how exactly do you plan to deal with that possibility?" insisted Kanako, resolved to get for once a straight answer from the youkai of boundaries.

"You could say Sanae involvement in this plan is killing two birds with a stone" she answered enigmatically "But for now I think we're better to focus on what greater powers she's going to meet beyond the Gate, I got an hunch that the culprit to the incident isn't just a simpleton with magic potential that meddled with what he shouldn't have."

"And if that's the case what do you plan to do? Beat up a god or whoever did this until they close the Gate?" the goddess asked ironically.

However, when she realized Yukari didn't answer her question she turned to face her only to find her looking back at her with an haunting smile; Kanako didn't need any other clue to understand the meaning behind it, her own question already contained the answer.

* * *

 **A.N. First off, JESUS CHRIST ON A MOTORBIKE I ACTUALLY GOT OVER 3000 VIEWS ON THIS STORY THIS IS INSANE! That aside, thank you very much for your support, you guys are wonderful. As a reward it's once again story time: if using Sanae as a spy left you confused don't worry, it's almost the same for me; truth is originally i was going to give that role to Ran, then lots of brainstorming sessions later on SB i decided Ran was too much useful to Yukari to just let her go away like that. Don't get me wrong, Ran will still get his chance to shine, i'm a fan of badass-Ran ever since i read "Yukari vs Ran" by Tohonifun, i really recommend it by the way, but this time Sanae is the star of the show. Also, you may have noticed, but this is my shortest chapter yet, a defective laptop battery, RL issues, writer block and procrastination brought me here, so this is also the one i'm least proud of; but at last i made it, hopefully i'll make up for it with the next. Finally, FF seems to have trouble showing my updates correctly, if you noticed something similar please let me know, i'll think of something to put a remedy on this. Regardless thank you once again and see ya next (laptop battery dies once again leaving the writer to wail in desperation)**


	7. The Primal Scene of A World The Girl Saw

The convoy that was crossing the Gate at the moment was bringing the last personnel to the developing base on Arnus Hill; days of complete silence by the enemy seemed to have convinced the high officers that it was finally safe enough for them to move there. While at the moment the base was just a bunch of tents surrounded by simple fortification, they planned to have proper buildings set up as soon as possible and the command center and the runway for when they would bring over the jets where already under construction. Aboard one of the light truck however, there was one person who stood out in the middle of the serious looking soldiers in green; sitting in the back was a girl who looked in her early twenties wearing a simple grey cardigan over a white button-up shirt and a pair of simple jeans and equally unassuming shoes. Her hairs were black and reached down to her shoulder blade while her eyes were blue, definitely an uncommon sight in Japan; the only other trace of colour on her person were a green clip shaped like a frog head fixed at a buttonhole of the collar of her shirt and a blue snake accessory wrapped around her left wrist like a bracelet.

Sanae felt uncomfortable with those changes to her appearance but they were part of her disguise to not stood out in the midst of the JSDF; the sole fact that she managed to keep her hair accessories although repurposed in their use was a victory in itself. If she had to be honest there were many other things that made her uneasy, wearing an helmet and a body armour being pretty high in the list. When they gave them to her, she started an argument about the safety of wearing the same colour as the actual fighting force, which was cut short by the soldier which brought them to her in the first place. "Listen" he said "while I'm sure we can dig up some nice protection designed to let others know of your status as civilian, I can assure you that whoever is going to shoot to us on the other side won't care about whether or not you're a soldier in the first place before trying to kill you." While he made a good job of getting his point across, his explanation did little to ease her doubts.

So far everything was going smoothly and in a few minutes she would finally be in what the JSDF called Special Region; her role as "expert" on the field would amount to following the recon teams and gather information about the locals system of beliefs. While that was also part of Yukari agenda, she also had to look for evidences that could later lead them to the culprit behind the Gate; that mainly meant that she had to actively look out for gods or any other feasible candidate without rising suspicions from wary officers. Of the existence of that kind of officers she was sure enough, at least one of them from the intelligence branch had been keeping an eye on her ever since she had been admitted inside the dome surrounding the Gate and she wouldn't have been surprised if he was to keep up the attitude even once they reached the base on Alnus Hill.

However, even with that being said, it still wasn't her biggest concern, the honor of that title belonged to her own personal mission and the main reason for her choice to play along Yukari plan; it had been already decided that she couldn't just rush to the rescue of her long forgotten friend without compromising the rest of the mission, instead she would have to make sure the JSDF would learn about the existence of Japanese prisoners as soon as possible and from there it would be only a matter of time before they would save her. While thanks to Ran previous visit they had the means to ensure such a revelation would happen, what truly made Sanae worry was the doubt of whether or not she would gain the kind of influence required to set the stage for such an event; what if when she finally convinced the JSDF to follow what to them might have sounded like a request out of curiosity it would be already too late?

This was the question she asked herself in those last months and no matter how hard she thought about it, she never came out with a definite answer and for each new day that passed, new doubts seemed to emerge within her thoughts. Being finally crossing the Gate however, seemed to have somewhat reduced those insecurities, as if finally being able to reach where she would work toward her goal was in itself a proof of undeniable success; in a way it reminded her of when her goddesses where talking about moving to Gensokyo, even back then she wasn't sure of what she should expect or if that plan would even work out in the end and yet, the moment she finally saw with her own eyes that new world laying in front of her every doubt had been washed away, replaced by an unexplained, almost irrational certainty that everything had already solved itself for the best and there was no longer the threat of failure looming over them.

Deep within herself she knew that this time it would be a different situation and yet she still hoped that the same comforting feeling would present itself once again once they emerged on the other side.

This whole train of thought must have took a lot from her, since the soldier next to her shook slightly her shoulder and asked her: "Are you alright Miss? It looked like you where dozing off."

She put up a reassuring smile and answered in return: "It's fine, I was just thinking about all of this. It's really happening afterall, isn't it?"

While she doubted he might have thought anything remotely similar to her, he nodded his head understandingly and replied: "I know right? A war in a fantasy land? When they told me about it I thought it was a joke. But here we are" he concluded while shrugging.

Using the chance to distract herself she asked him: "You don't seem too excited for being one who is going to explore such a place."

"What can I say, sure I'm curious about what we will found there, but we're not there for sightseeing, we're looking for the responsible of a massacre."

 _And kidnappings and slaves trade,_ Sanae thought grimly before saying: "You army folks sure know how to set the mood for a war."

"As I said, we're not a party of adventurers going through an uncharted land on a quest for self-discovery, but that doesn't mean I would mind if for once this turn out to be a quiet assignment instead. Although, if I have to be honest with you" he said smiling amused before speaking with a drawled out western accent "I came here to kick legionnaire asses and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of gum."

Despite the heaviness she felt just a few moment before Sanae couldn't help but snicker to the ridiculous show: "Really? That's what you came up with?"

"In my defense, I think good old western culture is underrated in this day and age, but that's not the point. Point is, while to a civilian like you, especially one in the field of academic culture..." he went on saying without noticing how she seemed to grimace hearing those words "...we may seem like some sort of emotionless death machines, we're not that different from anyone else, so don't feel like we're leaving you out, we both are doing our job, it's just that my job requirements happen to be a bit more eccentric than your. Are we clear?"

She nodded while smiling, this short if a bit out of place conversation managed to make her feel at ease more than her own forced reassurances did in those last days: "Yes, thank you."

Looking outside for the first time since they went through the Gate she noticed a faint light in the distance and realized they were probably approaching the other side. A small part of her thought that maybe things weren't so bad afterall.

* * *

Itami had been walking through the remains of the scorched battlefield for almost an hour, looking at pieces of the enemy equipment and the occasional wyvern corpse scattered around, until he finally stopped by a crater left by one of their artillery strikes, where a broken bow lied on the ground. He had been sent there along with a few other soldiers to look for survivors and despite his doubts so far they managed to retrieve some soldiers who were still alive despite the barrage of explosive shells and the volley of gunfire they had been targeted by. He briefly wondered what kind of army could manage to sustain such losses but that wasn't what had been on his mind those last days, the true source of his musings was still inside his new wallet, pocketed safely even as he wore his fatigues; it was a business card trimmed with purple, a styled drawing of a sun over raining clouds printed next to the company name and its contacts.

A few months had already passed since his chance encounter with the woman who gave him that card and yet the thought of it kept showing up in his mind when he least expected it; he never heard before of a Hearn Enterprise, sure the woman said it was a small company but something about it still felt strange to him, The card itself was strange enough, since it seemed to pop out of his wallet whenever something was troubling him, it was almost as if it had a mind of its own and was trying to remind him of the offer its master made to him. A couple of times he had half a mind to just throw it away but at the last moment something urged him to keep it despite his intentions. And finally, as nail in the coffin to the whole situation, there was the dream.

The first night he spent in the Special Region he had a dream of which he reminded almost nothing, except that the woman, Violet if he remembered correctly, was in it and was speaking to him of something. The details were blurred but he somehow managed to remember the last words she told him before he woke up: "You hold more power than you think, always remember that." What a dream like that could mean he had no idea, but the more he found himself thinking about it, the more those words sounded like an ominous premonition.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Brought out of his musing he turned toward the source of those words and saw a fellow officer looking at him. "Yes, I'm fine" he replied "why do you ask?"

"It's just that you were staring in the distance with a blank look, it was almost disturbing."

Waving him off he told him back: "Nothing too bad, I was just thinking of something."

The other man looked at him weirdly before saying: "Not the smartest thing to do on a patrol, especially if command is trying to talk to you."

Itami scrunched his eyebrows in confusion and asked him: "What do you mean?"

"They tried to get you to open the communication three times already until I told them that I had you in sight and you couldn't respond at the moment because you were too preoccupied. By the way, you can thank me later."

Itami found himself sweating at the thought of the bullet he just dodged, ignoring a call from command like that was definitely no trifling matter, he would have to properly thank the other soldier later. He still tried to hide his nervousness before asking him: "So, what did they wanted anyway?"

"Nothing much" the soldier replied while shrugging "They just want us back as soon as possible, seems like the brass are finally here and they'll soon start giving out new orders. If you ask me, I can't wait for it, walking up and down this hill at all time is getting tiring."

Nodding in response Itami began to walk back with him to the base, letting his eyes wandering occasionally to his surroundings, grateful for every chance to distract himself from the thoughts that had been plaguing him in those last days; with some luck, now he would be assigned to some easy task that could move him even further away from his current train of thought. However he had a persistent if faint gut feeling that his expectation were about to be shattered pretty soon, no matter how much he hoped otherwise.

Sighing tiredly he thought to himself: "And to think that it all began because I wanted to buy some doujins."

* * *

The Special Region wasn't that different from any other place one could find back on Earth; sure, there were things like dragons and magic, but when it came down to the settlements they were exactly what one would expect from a world that seemed to be stuck in the Middle Ages. That meant that all but the smallest of villages had at least an inn where weary travellers could sleep at and tired farmer could drink away their daily worries; the anonymous village a dozen of miles south of Londel was no exception and despite the evening being still a few hours away the bartender had already served a decent amount of customers.

Despite this he couldn't help but be bored, but to be honest most people would share his sentiment after spending nearly thirty years serving ale or renting rooms; his only saving grace was that his job was a good source of rumors if anything else. Most of the times it was nothing spectacular, just the same old talks about some local beauty or a particularly good fishing spot, but other times he was lucky enough to catch news of events before most people. He clearly remembered the times when imperial messengers would stop after a long journey and share the latest tale of the success of the Imperial Legions; while he wasn't particularly fond of the Empire he always found those stories fascinating and he often lost himself fantasising about the exotic sights and fierce battles he heard about.

Last he heard about one of them, it seemed like the Saderans had finally found someone who was their match and they had troubles trying to fend them off; given that said messenger also had more alcohol than blood in his body when he talked about it he also supposed that things probably weren't as dire as the man made them sound. Just as he recalled those memories, he noticed out of the corner of his eye a figure making its way to the counter.

Once he got a better look he realized that it was a woman wearing some travelling robes and with a big straw hat on her head; from what he could see she seemed to be in her thirties and she had short brown hairs. As she raised her head he finally saw her face and noticed two pieces of clear glass inside some sort of frame perched on her nose, a sight that left him surprised since glass was quite expensive. To add to his confusion the woman seemed to be alone and considering how apparently she was rich enough to use glass for what he thought was some kind of jewel, the fact that she didn't travel with any kind of servant was even stranger than her obviously exotic facial features.

So taken he was by those details that he almost didn't noticed that she sat upon a stool close to him until she spoke up: "Good day, can you give me drink?" She spoke with a thick accent and she built the phrase weirdly, so he concluded that whoever the woman was she definitely came from further than the Empire confines. That didn't stopped him however from doing his job properly.

"Of course, would you like a mug of ale?"

"Good, that's good" she replied without showing much difficulty despite her obviously not fully knowing the language.

As he was filling the mug she kept talking to him: "This place, many people come here?"

"Not that many, usually just merchants or patrols that want to take a breath, you're actually an unusual sight considering it seems like you comes from outside the Empire."

She raised an eyebrow before asking: "Very obvious, yes?"

"The accent kind of give it away" he replied trying to stifle a giggle "What is a lady like you doing here anyway? You seem too rich to just simply spend your time in a backward hole like this one when you could go for something better in the next town."

Despite looking confused by his remark she answered his question without an hint of uncertainty: "I'm from far, very far, I'm on travel to find special thing but I don't need rich place, I'm good."

"Well, good to hear for once someone with money who isn't snobby when it comes to resting" he said as he put the ale mug on the counter "But you said you're looking for something?"

Instead of answering him she took a sip from the mug, as if testing the taste, before gulping down at once a good third of it. She then searched for something in her robes before taking out a small pouch and putting it on the counter with enough force to let out a metallic tinkle. "Yes, I look for special place, you know any?"

It was clear that she intended to pay him an extra for any useful information, so he was all too earnest to ask her: "What do you mean by special ma'am?"

She seemed to be satisfied by his answer and went on adding details to her request: " A place with lot of magic is special, a place where lot of faith is found is special, special is a place place where land is strong, where land has much strength."

"You mean power?" he asked slightly confused.

"Yes, yes, land of great power, that is special, do you know any place like this?"

"Sorry, but I'm no magician and definitely I'm not a priest, I doubt I could be of much help with that" he replied as he was resigning himself to losing an easy profit, a sentiment that while not for the same reason, the woman in front of him seemed to be mirroring as she kept drinking from the mug.

Then, almost as if by divine intervention, he came up with something that he was sure was going to earn him gratitude by the stranger. "However..." he began to say "... not too far from here there is the city of Rondel and its academy, a great learning place for mages of all ages and kind."

This seemed to have picked the woman interest, as she was now eyeing him carefully: "Rondel?"

"Yes, it's no more than a dozen miles north of here, even by foot it shouldn't take more than a day. And if that is enough there's another place, although that one is much further away" he added as a second thought.

"What is name?"

For a moment he wasn't sure if he should tell her about it, it was one thing to send her to a city filled with academics, while many where afraid that one day they would all blow up thank to one of the many out of control experiments that took place in the school building, no one could deny that compared to many other city they lived in a relatively safe place. On the other hand, while the other city he could mention to her could ensure the safety of its citizen in its own way, he didn't feel like it was the best place for someone who lacked any knowledge of the traditions and customs that made the roots of the society that grew from that particular spot of the land.

In the end he decided that ultimately it wasn't his responsibility if the woman somehow managed to do something so outrageous to warrant the entire city going after her and so, without any other hesitation he simply told her the name of one of the most influential city in the nearby lands.

"Belnalgo."

* * *

Despite being mostly comprised of tents and wire fence walls the JSDF base was still big enough to be visible from miles away, but the recent battle that took place around it made enough of a ruckus to keep most people from trying to get close enough to get a peek. There were however some exceptions, one of which was currently on a mountainside overlooking the hill were such structures had been built; it was a woman that looked to be in her early twenties wearing a white frilled dress, but what truly stood out about her were the giant scythe she was holding and her blue skin, that together with the reptilian looking wings on her back and horns poking out of her white hair, made obvious her non-human nature.

By all accounts the mere presence of that base wasn't enough to justify the presence of the Apostle of Hardy, however that wasn't why Giselle was there; her goddess had already planned accordingly to deal with those otherworlders but there was another presence that while different from the people of Falmart, didn't have anything in common with those strangers. After carefully making her way to Arnus Hill she finally found that presence and now Giselle was hidden behind her, the woman apparently oblivious to her presence.

At first sight one could have mistaken her for a Fox-woman if it weren't for the fact that she had nine tails, on top of that Giselle could sense a faint trace of magic coming from her, as if she was actively trying to hide her power. If at first she thought she could deal with her quickly, now she wasn't sure a direct attack would be the best course of action and she decided instead to quietly observe her, both to discern her objectives and to prepare for a possible sneak attack. Her plan however proved to be faulted once the woman sighed loudly and said: "How long do you plan to hide behind my back?"

Despite being caught off guard by having been discovered so easily, she collected herself before walking out in the open: "That's surprising, I didn't thought you would find me that quickly."

"It's nothing to be proud of, really" the woman replied in a flat tone before turning to face her; now that she got a better look, she noticed how the woman seemed to be not older than thirty, had short blonde hair and golden eyes that suspiciously looked like the one an animal might have. Always in a slow and calculated manner the woman proceeded with straightening out the blue piece of cloth she wore over her long white dress, then she did the same with the white two tailed hat covered in strange yellow paper slip under which she obviously hid her ears and only once she was done she finally looked Giselle in the eyes.

"To be honest, it would be far more difficult to ignore you, given that you literally reek of divine power" she told her without showing an hint of emotion, only to then slightly frown and add "However I can't exactly tell what exactly are you, you've far more power than a blessing, no matter how strong, could give and yet you're nothing like a living god. Could it be that you're one of those Apostles I was warned about?"

Giselle didn't know what to make of those words, while she didn't understood what some of them were supposed to mean, it seemed like that woman knew more about her than she should have. "Yes, that would be me" she said trying to sound imposing "And who would you be? You look nothing like those who crossed the Gate, but you're definitely not from here and yet you said someone warned you about me?"

"Not you personally, but I've been told that supposedly your power surpass that of simpler mortals and that you act out the will of your god" the woman expression suddenly brightened before she resumed talking "Now that I think about it, you're not that different from that oarfish, maybe just a bit more combat oriented than her."

"A what now?" asked Giselle confused by the sudden turn of the conversation.

The other woman simply ignored her and just kept speaking: "That aside, I was told that I was not to trifle with the likes of you, no matter how confident I was in my chances of victory."

Giselle seemed to be pleased by what she heard since she asked in turn while smirking: "Do the news of the power of the Apostles reach that far?"

Seemingly oblivious to the meaning behind her words the woman calmly replied: "No, but it would be more trouble than what's worth it."

This answer made Giselle grimace in turn, before she asked menacingly: "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Seemingly unimpressed the woman said: "You sure seem to be a curious one, if you wanted to ask me that much you probably would had more luck by asking me beforehand with an open invitation instead of stalking me around." Despite the suggestion the woman sounded uncaring if not downright bored by their conversation, a fact that only fuelled the Apostle growing irritation. Once again ignoring the death stare she was receiving the stranger resumed talking: "But that aside, this are not matters you should concern yourself with, so I suggest you leave now." Then she turned her back to her. She turned her back on _her_.

Giselle was now beginning to seethe with anger, not only this stranger had been talking to her patronizingly and dismissed her questions as if she was talking to an annoying child, she was now ignoring her, the Apostle of Hardy, Goddess of the Underworld, and showing her back without a care in the world, as if the idea she could attack her was a concept too ridiculous to her to even take it seriously.

"Hey, I'm not done talking with you yet!" she shouted without getting any reaction from the woman "Hey, who do you think you are? You think you can just ignore me like that?" Despite her outraged shouts the woman just kept looking at the valley underneath her and didn't even seemed to hear her.

Gripping the handle of her scythe with enough force to break a more mundane weapon she brought it above her shoulder before shouting one last time: "Fine, let's see how haughty can you be without an head!" She let out a furious cry before swinging her weapon so that the blade would connect with the woman neck.

Giselle was pretty confident in her strength as an Apostle, even without a weapon she probably was strong enough to throw a fully grown horse like a rag doll and her scythe was capable of slicing through a boulder with ease. So she was understandably shocked when instead of sending the stranger head flying down the mountain releasing a fountain of blood, the blade seemingly bounced off thin air before even coming closer than a step from the woman. At first she was too surprised by the outcome to understand what just happened, until she noticed a glow coming from the ground around the woman feet; there, half buried in the dusty soil, were some slips of paper covered in a strange language, not so different from the ones on the woman hat, placed as to outline the corners of a square and now glowing with what she recognized as magical power.

"A barrier, uh?" she asked rhetorically as she finally understood what stopped her attack "Just because you know how to dabble with magic don't think this will save you!" she shouted once again, the woman yet to give any sort of reaction.

She tried to strike harder a few more times and yet she was always met with the same result, the now obvious magical barrier apparently not weakened in the slightest by her continuous onslaught. Seeing as this got her nowhere, she brought her scythe closer to herself, before starting chanting quickly and in a low tone some sort of prayer, until the blade of her weapon seemed to be wrapped in a ominous black smoke.

Grinning maniacally she charged another attack against her unusually passive target: "So far you've been lucky, now let's see how some flimsy magic will handle divine power!" She cried out once again as the now enhanced weapon went to meet its objective and despite feeling briefly a resistance, she was overjoyed once she heard something shatter and a bright flash filled her vision.

Her victory was cut short however once she didn't felt anything else until her scythe overshoot where the woman should have been and got stuck in the ground, almost throwing her off balance.

Quickly regaining her composure, she looked around confused as where the woman was and how she managed to evade such an attack with so short notice until she heard a voice coming from above her: "Interesting, perhaps I was to quick to sell you short, if you actually managed to land that hit it would have made quite the number on me."

Almost not believing in the possibility she looked upward and found the woman suspended right above her with no visible effort from her part, as if she was still standing on the ground below her, now looking at her with some small interest. Still shocked by the sight Giselle asked her, not caring about letting her surprise show in her voice: "How are you flying? What kind kind of magic is that?"

This seemed to surprise the woman since she finally showed something different from the mask of indifference she had until that point: "You mean you still haven't discovered how to do it? It would seem that despite living in a world of magic, you have yet to discover its applications to the fullest."

"Whatever" Giselle quickly dismissed her "Just because you're flying, it doesn't mean I can't get you!"

The stranger sighed tiredly and gave her an irritated look: "Seriously, your wasting both of our time, while we could be spending it doing our job for..." As if hearing just then her own words she immediately stopped herself from saying whatever she thought off and instead muttered under her breath: "Almost let it slip out, that would have been bad."

"Hey! Quit monologuing, I'm still here!" the Apostle shouted in frustration.

"As if I could ignore it" was the resigned answer she got back "It seems like this is only going to escalate, so I better finish it quickly before it can gain any unwanted attention."

As she took her hands out of her long sleeves Giselle felt a sudden spike in power coming from the woman, confirming her suspicions that she had been hiding her strength the whole time; however she didn't seems to be stopping anytime soon and her power just kept growing, leaving the Apostle to wonder just what kind of creature she was facing. As she was asking herself if she might have bit more than she could chew, the woman suddenly turned in a seemingly random direction and her power stopped from increasing and instead began to fade once again. Trying to see what distracted her opponent Giselle turned in the same direction only to find an almost invisible speck of white floating in their direction.

As it got closer she recognized it as a paper doll vaguely humanoid in shape, with more of that strange writing over its front; it was clearly some kind of magical artifact, of what kind or use however she couldn't tell. The paper doll slipped past her and flew up until it was right in front of the woman face, where it stood still while its owner looked at it with interest, almost as if they were in the middle of a conversation. A few seconds passed, then the woman face relaxed and she put her hands once again in her sleeves before turning to Giselle: "It appear that for the moment I have no longer reasons to remain here, so I'm afraid that if you were looking forward for a confrontation it won't be any time soon. That being said I'll take my leave."

Not fully understanding what just happened Giselle watched as the woman began to fly away, before a new wave of anger took her and she shouted at her: "Not so fast! You think I'll just let you go after what happened? You're not out of it yet!" She then prepared herself to throw her scythe at her like one would do with a more feasible weapon, hoping to nail her in the back or at least elicit some reaction that might bring her back to fight her.

What she didn't saw coming was for the paper doll to turn around and dive-bomb at her at full speed; despite its harmless appearance, centuries of battles and her own instinct told her to move out of the way regardless of what she thought. That proved to be a wise move, since the moment the doll hit the ground, it blew up in an explosion of raw magic power that turned the spot where she was standing a few moments before in a smoldering crater big enough for her to comfortably sit in it. As her opponent got out of her range she just kept staring at where her attack landed; it was definitely a lethal strike and even with her blessings she would have been put out of commission for at least a full day. If that was what passed as distraction or warning shot for that woman, she dreaded to think of what she would do if she was actively trying to kill her.

Giselle frowned deeply, the longer she thought about it, the worst the situation had turned out; while she couldn't say to know the full extent of her goddess plan, the otherworlders taking hold of Alnus Hill was definitely not part of it, even less a weird Fox-woman magician working on her own unknown agenda. She knew that the Gate had to be closed as fast as possible, but the odds hadn't turned in their favour in the slightest; which was why now more than ever the need for their "weapon" was undeniable.

Despite the humiliating confrontation she just got out of she couldn't help but smirk, once that reached the base nothing would be able to oppose it, be it a powerful army or a talented mage. Many had tried before and all had failed the same; Legion worth of soldiers barely fazed it, destructive siege weapons didn't as much as made it flinch and legendary mages had sooner run themselves dry than scorched it with their magic.

No matter the opposition, these strangers would soon learn to fear the name of Hardy.

* * *

 **A.N. Guess who's back? Back again! Ok, jokes aside sorry it took so long but IRL everything seems to be trying to screw me over... but i've yet to give up! We're finally in Falmart and things are getting just as spicy as i like them, from now one expect exploration and action. That being said update will be much slower so bear with me until the next one is done. Regardless, thank for your support and see ya next time!**


	8. Unusual Animal

Itami felt bored. He was back from a meeting with Major Higaki in which he had been told that he would lead one of the Recon Teams appointed to explore the Special Region and make contact with the locals and that in itself was annoying. Things just got worse when instead of starting immediately his mission, so that he could at least distract himself with the landscape, he was told he was to gathered the men assigned to him at the motor pool along with the other Recon Teams to hear an announcement. Ten minutes had already passed and they were all still standing there, waiting for something they didn't even know; normally a newly appointed officer would have used the chance to get to know better those working under him, Itami however didn't belong to the same batch as those officers and so he simply stood there, barely listening to snippets of hushed conversations every now and then.

He guessed he still managed to learn something about his men, although it was superficial knowledge at best and still a result of trying to stave off boredom; he already met before with one of them, a certain Sergeant Major Kuwahara, the oldest out of all of them and widely known for his reputation as Drill Sergeant, and he quickly got to know the only other fellow Otaku in his team, Sergeant Kurata, a young men in his early twenties. Aside from the two of them, the rest of his team barely caught his attention, the only other two exception being their medic, a giant of a woman that towered over him, and the only other female member, which for some reason had been eyeing him skeptically ever since he made his presentation.

He huffed before looking around himself, realizing that he wasn't the only one to be bored out of his mind and wondering what could possibly take so long that would require the presence of all of the Recon Team at the same time. Luckily for him the Universe must have been in a good mood that day and decided to listen to his complaint, since Major Higaki finally made his presence known, along with another man wearing glasses; all of them quickly turned to him and saluted in a perfect show of military discipline, before their officer waved them off and told them to get at ease.

"You all know why you're here, you have been deemed fit to conduct recon missions in what we understand to be enemy territory" the man began telling them with little to no emotion to his words, as if he was just reading a script " If these lands are anything like what we should expect based on our own history, that means you'll be likely to meet a local population with next to no interest to which side of the war you are as long as you don't pillage their houses. That also means that they're likely to cooperate, giving us invaluable information about this world."

To be honest Itami could have understood that by himself and he saw no reason in gathering them there just to tell them that, a sentiment that seemed to be shared by others, if the way some soldiers seemed to be staring into thin air was anything to go by. The Major however seemed oblivious to the situation, as he just kept speaking to a crowd that was barely paying attention to his speech: "However you should also know that we must be careful as to not start animosity with the locals and why I don't doubt your humanitarian training as proud member of the JSDF, there are aspect of this world culture of which we have no previous experience from which to take example. I'm talking of course of how certain aspect of their life seem to be the fruit of works of literature."

Those words caught him off guard and for the first time since he parked himself there he was paying attention at what the Major was saying; Itami already had a suspicion of where he was going, but the thought was so absurd he quickly dismissed it. However his doubts proved to be true once the Major resumed his speech, although this time he sounded troubled by his own words, as if he either didn't agree with or didn't believe in what he was saying: "It's no use ignoring the similarities between what this world showed us so far and what we believed to be part of our legends, and we can't dismiss that what we once thought were just folk-tales, might have more truth than what we gave them credit for."

Itami barely believed what he was hearing and so did many others that couldn't hide their bafflement to the Major candid revelation that the higher ups were now giving credibility to fairy tales; however the best, or worst according to who was asked about it, had yet to come as the unusually distressed officer kept talking to them. "Which is why your superiors saw fit to adequately prepare for this unusual circumstances" he said half-heartedly, making clear his own disbelief to what he was about to say "Allow me to introduce a person which role in the Special Region will be undoubtedly of great help in understanding the local customs and most likely even dealing with some of the local wildlife."

As if on cue, from the same door the two men in front of them came from, a young woman made her way to the side of Major Higaki before standing before all of them; despite wearing an helmet and an issued body armour like every member of the JSDF, it was obvious by her posture and the clothes she wore underneath the protections that she was a civilian. As if that wasn't strange enough she seemed to be pretty young, to the point he assumed she couldn't be past her mid-twenties, and her obvious unease made also clear that it was unlikely for her to have any military background of any kind. In short, she was as green to a battlefield as one could be.

Ignoring the murmurings spreading through the crowd of soldiers, the Major introduced the newcomer: "Meet Professor Sanae Kazetani, proud owner of a PhD in anthropology of religion, and hopefully first in a long list of volunteers to our cause here in the Special Region. Thanks to her expertise she has been appointed to join the Recon teams in the exploration of the surrounding territories, so I'm expecting full collaboration on your part."

This seemed to push all the gathered soldiers as close as they could be to dropping their jaws like the characters of an anime and Itami was no exception; they were telling him that the girl in front of them not only was already an esteemed academic, but would also join them in their scouting missions? If he didn't know any better, he would have thought that was the prologue to one of his light novels.

Not all of the soldiers seemed to be as taken by the revelation as him however, since a pair on his left turned to face their medic and jokingly told her: "Hey Kurokawa, I think we just found your long lost sister." As Itami tried to understand what they meant, he realized that there was some resemblances between the two women and their long black hair and uncommon blue eyes just seemed to strengthen the assumption. He also noticed that Kuwahara was also staring at the newcomer but instead of looking surprised or interested, he seemed to be thoughtful.

"Hey pops, are you alright?" Itami whispered as quietly as possible to him, curious as to what went through his mind. The older man turned to him, getting out of what looked like a trance, before shaking his head and trying to dismiss his CO concerns: "Nothing to worry about Lieutenant, I just thought that girl looked familiar, but now that I took a better look she's definitely not who I thought she was."

Before he could further inquire his subordinate, Major Higaki decided to talk once again: "I would think now it's the Professor turn to have a chance to introduce herself, so for now I'll leave the stage to her." He moved to the side and with a nod of his head he gave her the permission to speak, which she took in stride after making sure they were all paying attention. "I'm Professor... Kazetani, a pleasure to meet you all" she said with a nervous tone that almost sounded embarrassed, although Itami chalked it up to how the bespectacled officer, which now that he gave a better look seemed to be from the intelligence branch, was staring at her the whole time like an eagle stalking a prey.

"I know some of you may not believe in the need for my role here in the Special Region, but I assure you that I'll make my best to prove otherwise; that being said, I obviously lack your experience when it comes to what to do in a warzone, so please take care of me" she then bowed deeply and leaved the stage to the Major while looking uncomfortable all the while.

That was unexpected. In Itami experience based on his reluctant university years, scholars with that degree of expertise usually fell in two categories: either they saw themselves as bastions of knowledge which mission was to carve a path into the shadows of ignorance, filling each one of their words and gesture with the enthusiasm and conviction born from their denial of the possibility that their students could find the wisdom they were partaking with them not of their liking, or they thought themselves as geniuses wasting their time throwing pearls before swine, surrounded by bored idiots that couldn't even begin to fathom what they just told them.

This Professor, no, this girl instead exuded nothing but humility and meekness, as if she lacked even the confidence in her own skills; if he didn't know any better he would have thought she had been forced into a role she didn't saw herself fit for. If this made Itami see her more like a person than another faceless member of the operation, despite still feeling a certain amount of confusion about her presence, other saw her in a new, if different, light: "I'm calling dibs."

The surprising declaration came from a soldier on his right and in the man's intention it should have been quiet enough to be unheard to all but the soldier next to him; of course, given how Itami turned on him surprised, how the two female soldiers in their team looked at him disapprovingly, how many other faces around him seemed to either be approving or annoyed and finally, how Kuwahara was scowling deeply, his plan had failed miserably.

Despite this the two men seemed to be oblivious to the unwanted attention and continued their own argument; "You can't go on and call dibs like that" was the reply he received from the other soldier. "Why not? We all saw her and if you don't start some sort of priority this will soon turn into a free for all and then you can be sure things will truly be a mess. I mean, did you get a look on her? She's not something you dismiss so easily. Beside, it doesn't even fall under fraternization."

While he wasn't so sure about the validity of his last point, Itami had to admit he wasn't wrong about the rest; despite how military outfits did an excellent work at enforcing the concepts of equality and uniformity even despite their wearer's gender or body build, he could easily see that the girl in question seemed to have quite the figure, something that he suspected would become even more obvious once she would wear a more casual clothing. If to that and a cute face one was to add her seemingly submissive behaviour, it was no wonder how she could become a "favourite" so to speak between men; he himself had no trouble picturing her wearing a schoolgirl uniform and playing the role of the shy underclassman trying to win over the affection of her sempai.

Kuwahara wasn't obviously of the same mind, if the way he was grimacing at the soldier was of any clue, a deduction that was confirmed by his next words: "I wouldn't be so sure about that, _soldier_ , and even if it wasn't, need I remind you that you're supposed to hold to a certain behaviour as long as you're in service?" The poor soul realized only in that moment that his supposed private conversation wasn't as secretive as he thought and the way the Sergeant Major reproach sounded almost like the low menacing growl one would expect from an animal didn't help him in forming any sort of rebuttal.

"But I... I mean... What I meant is that..." he stuttered, growing more anxious the more he realized he was knotting his tongue."Understood Sir, this won't happen again" he finally managed to said after he finished to shame himself in front of the rest of the team.

"Better be that way, I'll hate to have to repeat myself" was the final nail to the coffin of the awkward exchange between the two soldiers, although Itami didn't know whether he should have found it embarrassing or hilarious; he was so taken by what was happening so close to him that he didn't realized Major Higaki had been talking until he made clear he finished.

"...and that's the order in which Professor Kazetani will join the Recon Teams in the following days" was what Itami managed to catch of the already ending explanation "That being said Lieutenant Yanagida will now give you more details about the scouting paths you've been assigned to, so I'll leave the word to him now."

As the bespectacled man he noticed before made his way to begin his no doubt significant speech, Itami found his mind beginning to drift away once more and while his fellow Lieutenants listened intently to the finer details of their missions, he wondered what he should expect from what many would think of as an adventure. The addition of a scholar to their teams, one that probably was an irregularity even in the academic world she came from, was something unexpected so he was already off to a great start when it came to unpredictable developments; he could only hope that whatever surprise waited for him in the future would be just as tame as that.

* * *

When it came to the Special Region, there wasn't that much of a difference in Ran's eyes; while humans spread all over the land in a way that was unheard of in Gensokyo, their lives weren't that different. Even when it came to her it was easy to see some similarities. While usually she wouldn't be so cautious about avoiding to be sighted, it was also true that it was considered a show of politeness amongst the more civilized youkai to avoid upsetting the mood of humans by spending too much time near their settlement, an action that even when done with no malicious intent usually was misunderstood as them prowling around looking for a victim.

If anything, the only difference so far was that since she was currently on a mission for her master, she didn't have to follow her usual daily routine of providing for the needs of said master; on top of that, the nature of the mission itself usually left her with lot of free time at hand, which again was a welcome change from her daily life. Even something as simple as flying became a whole new experience once she no longer had to avoid crossing the borders of any of the main factions territories and she could rest assured that no foolhardy fairy or trigger happy witch would bother her.

If she was to be honest so far it looked more like a vacation than a job and while she still had some duties to abide by and she had to report to her master every once in a while, it had been centuries since the last time she didn't have to worry about any whimsical order or her servant mischiefs; the only thing that made her feel disappointed was the obvious lack of shops specialized in fried tofu, but she begrudgingly accepted that she couldn't ask too much given the usual nature of her missions. So she had no qualms to say that by far it was the best job she had been assigned to in ages and she was thoroughly enjoying it. Or at least that was the case until a few hours ago.

Once again she had to swerve as she flew to avoid the diving assault of a wyvern, while she kept taking pot shots to keep at bay the others circling around her. It all began suddenly, when a flock of the creatures started going after her while she was coming back from one of her scouting flights in those new lands; as she soon discovered, while they weren't as fast or agile as her, they more than made up for it with resilience and their scales were hard enough to shield them from weaker magic attacks. Despite this and their large numbers, Ran was more than confident that if she used stronger spells or relied on her own physical strength, she could have easily dealt with them in a few minutes. However, just as soon as she made those assumptions, she realized that neither they were alone nor they were the biggest threat.

She dove down to avoid the stream of fire breathed in her direction and as she did so she turned to look at the source of her problems; as big as a building and still flying at her, the red scaled dragon had proved to be much more dangerous than its smaller counterparts. While slower and not as agile as the wyverns, it already proved in more than one occasion to possess a certain amount of intelligence and cunning nature; despite being nowhere near in power when compared to the dragons Ran knew of, its hard hide and fire breath proved that it wasn't an opponent she should underestimate easily. If she was correct only her more powerful attacks stood a change to get through her enemy defences, but those required some preparation and that was the actual problem.

Nowadays battles in Gensokyo employed the use of Spell Cards, which besides being non-lethal, had the advantage of being preprogrammed to go through what would otherwise be precious seconds of preparations as soon as one declared them; that meant that magic attacks that would otherwise required a full minute to be readied, could be unleashed in a few moments. Of course her current situation required her spells to be able to do more than simply incapacitate her target, but luckily one could still manually tweak the properties of a Spell Card with a few more seconds of concentration; so, as long as she could focus long enough, she could have readied an attack powerful enough to wound even such an armoured monster.

Unfortunately it seemed that her enemies knew this too, since both the dragon and the wyverns kept pressuring her, denying any chance to use anything more complicated than a few magic projectiles. As she noticed how the last fire attack caught a couple of wyverns in its arc through the air and outright killed them, she was reminded once again how the dragon seemed to not care about the lesser species, despite the fact that they were helping it in its attempt to strike her down. This told her that despite the appearance, a synchronized assault like the one she was currently under wasn't a natural occurrence and that someone had control over the creatures involved.

Given the draconic nature of her enemies and the short list of encounters she had with the local population, she had an hunch about the identity of the mastermind behind the inconvenience she was currently facing; as she dodged yet another swipe a wyvern attempted against her, she couldn't help but sigh and she regretted not having dealt with that Apostle when she had the chance. Under any other circumstances the best course of action would have been to try to gain any distance from her pursuers, from there she could have either tried to lose them or charged an attack with enough strength to deal substantial damage; at the moment Ran had no illusion on how both choices would end.

While it was true that she was out in the wilderness, she could sense some faint magical presences in the distance; she did manage to be undetected so far, but if she was to use some of her more powerful spells they would no doubt feel the the spike in magical power and even the meekest and more peaceful magic users would investigate the source of such an event so close to their home. Neither she could run away from them and return to the JSDF base to proceed with the plan, if this assault proved anything was that the Apostle she somehow managed to anger was as stubborn as she was prideful; there was always the risk that she would send her draconic subordinates after her and that would spell trouble to the whole operation, even if the base proved to be able to repel the attack.

Her train of thought was interrupted by another wyvern that tried to charge at her, only for her to twist out of the way and reward the creature effort by grabbing one of its wing; she then thrown it at the approaching dragon like an impromptu projectile to stop its own attempt to crash into her. While the wyvern broke its bones impacting against the red dragon head and bounced off like a pebble thrown at a boulder, the massive monster was simply fazed for a few moments, but it was all Ran needed to fly away to safety before engaging more of the lesser beasts.

Despite how much time she spent battling them, there where still at least two dozen wyverns and the dragon didn't seem like it would be out of the fight anytime soon and the longer the battle went on, the more likely it was for someone to stumble upon it; if the amount of flying beasts and the occasional spike in magical power weren't enough to get their attention, then she was sure the sight of a flying humanoid figure shooting arcane bullets and striking down wyverns barehanded would definitely do trick.

Another wyvern tried to take a bite at her, but Ran was fast enough to grab it by the neck and she yanked it hard, forcing it to close its jaws, before swinging it into a second one that dived at her trying to capitalize on her distraction; as a result her new assailant was sent falling to the ground like a meteor, while the neck of her scaly flail snapped rendering it useless. As she let go of the fresh corpse she just produced, she barely had time to turn around before a third wyvern was upon her, trying to get an hold of her with its talons; as she struggled against it for keeping it from restraining her, Ran saw the dragon coming from her side and reading its fire breath.

With no room for dodging the incoming attack, with an hand she grabbed the wyvern lower jaw and with the other one she took hold of one of its wing; using those points for leverage Ran twisted the reptilian monster around and used it to shield herself from the white-hot flames, flinching against the sudden heatwave that still managed to hit her and the agonized shrieks of the dying wyvern. Once the stream of fire died out she jumped out of her cover avoiding the claw swing that the dragon used to follow up its own attack, while still grimacing from the smell of burnt meat.

Despite her quick reflex she still came out slightly singed from the last attack and it was now obvious that this wasn't a fight that she could drag on indefinitely, she had to find a way to end it or at least gain a decisive advantage and she had to do it quickly, before her next slip turned out to be a deadly one. Trying to gain some breathing room she focused her power for a few moments and soon enough two glowing hexagrams appeared at her sides; not perceiving it as a threat the remaining wyverns tried to close in once again, only for the magical constructs to start shooting in their direction a volley of magic bullets.

In the same way an arrow didn't have to pierce through an armour to make its wearer stumble back, so this bullets proved to be effective at dispersing the incoming flock despite doing nothing more than scorching their scales; every once in a while a lucky shot would burn an hole through their soft wings or wound their eyes and the wounded animal would end up stalling and plummet toward the ground, sometimes without recovering before the inevitable crash that followed. This gave Ran time to finally focus without distractions on the red dragon, now in the middle of turning around to prepare another attack; to a casual observer it would look like so far the few attacks she managed to land on it were meaningless and he would assume all of her maneuvering around it had no other value beside stalling for time. This couldn't be furthest from the truth.

Ran didn't get to her ninth tail nor became the trusted servant of one of the most feared youkai of Gensokyo through brute force alone, despite the considerable amount of raw power she could rely on; a fox greatest strengths were its cunning and its sharp mind, skills she had centuries to hone as close to perfection as it was possible. What on the outside looked like a desperate battle to buy herself more time was in truth a series of craftily planned tests of her opponent capability, each new one designed as to give away a more accurate depiction of the dragon strengths and weaknesses for her to exploit in the most successful way.

She already realized that despite being less agile and incapable of the burst of speed of its lesser brethren, its wings were strong enough that in the long run it could easily reach and even outrun them; its breath attack had bothersome range and a wide spread, more than enough to make up for its predictability and straightforward path, and she didn't doubt that in a contest of physical strength she would be easily overpowered, while its hard scales would required a lot of effort on her part. Coupled with the need for subtlety she was under, this greatly limited her in her choices.

She could try going for its weak points, like the wings or its eyes, but she would need a powerful attack to do any substantial damage, and such an attack would required some preparations and she was fairly sure the dragon would either try to dodge it or to shield itself from the worst of it. Ran also thought about using two others of her lesser shikigami to produce a concentrated stream of bullets which would still retain enough mobility to track the dragon despite its evasive maneuvers; with enough time she could have tore to shreds its wings, leaving it on the ground for an easier pick, or she could have even got through its hide the same way water would get through even the hardest of boulders, plucking it like a chicken one scale at a time.

This however would require her to loosen her control over the other two she was already using and that would mean they wouldn't be able to keep at bay the surviving wyverns as effectively as they did before, leaving her open to a retaliatory strike. She noticed that the dragon was finally heading her way and it wouldn't be more than a few more seconds before it was upon her; just as this thought went through her mind she had an inspiration and so she quickly set to work to turn it into an actual plan. Once she was done Ran was confident in the chance of success of what she was about to tried and even if she was to fail spectacularly, she would still gain invaluable tactical knowledge.

She quickly dismissed her shikigami and then she flew up as fast as she could, gaining in a short time an height advantage over her opponents; no longer under the pressure of her attack, the wyverns tried to follow her and even the dragon twisted in the air to begin its own rising up. Ran ignored them for the moment and instead she kept rising higher and higher until she could no longer make out the single trees in the forest below her; despite this she didn't stop until she was as high as the peaks of the near mountain range and she could finally get a better look at the land below her.

What at first looked like an endless forest, now reminded her of a green blanket wrapped all over the earth; she could now make out the distant edges where it ended and she finally saw much closer to her the regular shapes of small buildings encased within a clearing of the forest. That must have been the settlement from which she felt those magic presences before; it was fortunate enough that she came up with this plan before going further on, even if they somehow were not able to sense magic power, they surely wouldn't be blind and they would have been bound to see her or her not so small bunch of hostile pursuers.

For what concerned the latter, just as she predicted despite their head start the dragon was steadily approaching the wyverns and it would soon outspeed them; she watched in morbid fascination as it speared through their formation, violently brushing aside the reptilian creatures and even outright biting down on those unfortunate enough to be too close. The display served to remind her once again what she was facing, while the wyverns could be a threat on their own with enough numbers, it was clear that to the Apostle that sicked it against her this red dragon was nothing short of her trump card; this was an apex predator that had likely never encountered any real threat to his position, a destructive force of nature which pride as hunter compelled it to remove everything that could interfere with its hunt, anything that stood between it and its prey, and someone had deemed her dangerous enough to justify the use of such a creature. In a way she guessed she should have been flattered by the attempt.

The dragon had finally broke through the wyverns flock and was now a third of the way up to her, which in turn meant that Ran could finally spring her trap; she slowly began to focus her power, gradually releasing her magic as began to work on two spells at the same time.

Enhancing spells were an interesting field of study and admittedly one that raised many problems; some youkai were naturally talented in this branch of magic, the oni being a clear example, infusing their fist with magic to increase the effectiveness of their already monstrous strength to the point that could literally make whatever they punched explode. Others found it much more complicated since the inner working of this kind of spells changed one very own body to suit the mean of the caster, Ran however despite being more talented in the use of shikigami was no slouch when it came to this kind of magic. While some might have argued that she wasn't as talented as the likes of the Buddhist nun, it was also true that while the former was a magician and therefore just as fragile as any simple human, she was a youkai already possessing capability that were beyond human, so she didn't need a spell of the same magnitude to reach impressive result.

In this case she had been focusing her power in her right fist until it became harder than steel and with enough force behind it to easily shatter stone and once the dragon was halfway from her, she dived down at full speed like a meteor crashing down from the sky. She soon reached the terminal velocity for a human body and then she propelled herself even faster, the air around her having turned into furious winds whipping at her; the dragon just kept climbing up through the air, completely unperturbed by what it perceived as a particularly stubborn prey being so willing to rush at it head first.

Soon she reached a speed that most humans wouldn't experience outside of a journey on a bullet train and even then she wasn't bothered at all and simply focused on her approaching target; as she got within a few hundreds of meters from it, the dragon suddenly opened its jaws and unleashed a stream of fire, trying to engulf her with the flames she was likely to dive into. To its surprise she performed at the last moment a manouver that would have left the most experienced jet pilot unconscious and dashed to the side before making a sharp turn in the air and closing in at full speed toward the left side of its head.

What followed could have been described by drawing a comparison with boxing as a right hook to the temple if it wasn't for some details; the first being the booming sound that followed the impact, resembling the discharge of an artillery piece, followed by the scales closest to where the fist landed being all but pulverized, with those further away either shattering into bigger chunks or being covered by a web of cracks. Unfortunately the fist that caused so much havoc didn't fare any better and it broke apart as if it was made of the brittlest glass instead of youkai bones reinforced by powerful magic; however the feeling of something giving away before the pain could flare up told Ran she had most likely managed to crack the dragon skull.

When an human head is struck with enough force, the brain has enough space within the skull to bounce around, most of the times receiving some sort of damage in the process; besides that the impact can cause a cascade of signals that even when it doesn't cause unconsciousness can overpower temporarily the voluntary motor functions of a body, causing effectively a small window of time where one is trapped within his own unresponsive body. Draconic anatomy must have been similar enough for the same process to take place, since despite having its eyes wide open and letting a pained cry the dragon began falling down like a rag doll.

As Ran gritted her teeth to ignore the throbbing pain travelling up her arm she watched the flailing form of the once imposing beast crashing down to earth, swatting aside the wyverns that were still trying to reach her or trapping them under its bulk, dragging them down with itself; yet she didn't lowered her guard and instead she began finishing her second spell, the one she would use to end the fight. Originally it was a simple bombardment spell designed to be used against swarms or to weaken fortifications, but with the introduction of the Spell Cards Rules she had long turned it into one of her lower level Spell Cards; she was the first to admit that human sized targets could easily beat it as long as they kept a cool head and they didn't panic at the sight of so many bullets. However this time she was going to use it against a soon to be grounded opponent many size larger than an usual danmaku player and besides, with the tweaks she was doing now it would be neither a fair attack nor an harmless one.

At last the dragon must had regained some control over its own body, for he began flapping its wings wildly to slow down its fall, a strategy that proved to be questionably successful when it crashed to the ground hard enough to lift a cloud of dust so big that it hid the treetops that it had not flattened on impact; Ran however could still see it clearly and after the last changes her spell was finally ready to be unleashed.

[ Shikigami "Hermit Fox Thoughts"]

Soon spherical purple bullets as large as her began heading toward the fallen dragon and once they made contact with it, they began exploding violently, releasing a cluster of smaller balls that just as quickly detonated releasing once again more bullets, this time shaped as arrowheads and both green and yellow; each time one of the bigger bullets exploded a new pillar of dust rose up in the air and it didn't take long before the dragon was completely obscured by the sight, yet Ran just kept firing, increasing the rate at which she created the projectiles over time.

As a veritable bullets storm kept pounding against her opponent, some of the still inactive balls managed to knock down part of the remaining wyverns and just to remain on the safe side Ran had some of them explode within the remain of the flock, part of it being hit by the shockwaves of the main explosions and falling down once they lost their lift while the rest was decimated by the smaller bullets. It took her two minutes before she decided she was satisfied with her handywork and she ended her spell.

Once the last explosion died down and the dust began to settle she took a look at her surroundings; the dragon remained motionless on the ground and no wyvern was in sight. Her endless bombardment had turned the landing point of the massive beast into a new clearing over which sawdust and pulverized dirt kept raining down; she guessed even despite her best intention such a show wouldn't go unnoticed, but she argued that as long as she left the scene nobody would find anything but the corpse of the red dragon and whoever saw the remains of the battle that occurred wouldn't have a clue about what happened. Afterall despite its effectiveness the spell she just used required an amount of magic power too low to be felt over such distances.

All the dust suspended in the air made the back of her throat itch and fatigue was finally catching up with her; even without counting the mess that her right hand was she was still covered by slight burns and shallow cuts that she received when the shockwave of her punch launched some scale fragments like shrapnel from a grenade. And yet despite all of this she couldn't stop grinning like an idiot.

She brought her good hand to her chest and she could feel her heart pounding as if it was trying to escape from her ribcage; she was tired and now that the adrenaline rush was dying down she could begin to feel pain in all of its intensity, but she couldn't stop a feeling of satisfaction from washing over her as the full weight of what she just did finally hit her.

She just killed a dragon. Not just an ordinary one, no, by the looks of it probably it was a centuries old creature, maybe even older than a millennium and she just killed it along with over two dozen of wyverns with what most would think of as a lackluster spell. It had been ages since she was allowed to go all out and over time she began to think that her new life, while no doubt advantageous, made her mellow and that somewhere along the line she lost her touch.

She barely restrained her laughs as a new feeling of pride took over her; not only she was wrong, but the first time she actually used her power without restraints in centuries she managed to accomplish a task that was impressive even by the standards of Gensokyo, she managed to win a fight that wouldn't have paled in the face of her old life.

Her old life. How long it had been since the last time she felt the rush of battle, how long since the last time she felt excitement over defeating a powerful enemy, it had been far too long since she remembered the feeling of invincibility she used to feel everytime she could see the effect of her power and she was reassured that she still was the fearsome creature that made men and youkai alike turn tail and run in hope of being spared from witnessing her strength.

This mission just turned out to be much better than she would have ever expected, if she was lucky enough maybe this wouldn't be the last time she would find herself in such a fierce battle. That Apostle must have been still around, right? Surely once she realized that her prized weapon had been defeated she would look for revenge, wouldn't she? If that was the case, who was to say that she wouldn't threaten the success of the mission? It was her duty to avoid that and therefore, no matter how reluctant, she would have to fight her and her minions for the sake of the greater good.

Maybe it would become a new routine for as long as she remained in this world, maybe it would just be like those Outside World shows and each time she would have to face a new Villain of the Week, each one more powerful and confident than the last one. Who knew, perhaps that would be a good change to bring Chen along with her, fortifying their bond while checking on her progress, all the while educating her of the joys of life for a youkai before the creation of the Hakurei Barrier and then...

Her musing were interrupted by a faint noise that she was barely able to pick up; at first she didn't hear anything else and she almost thought she must have imagined it until she heard it again, this time a bit louder. It sounded like a pained tired breath and she wondered where it could have come from until a terrible thought crossed her mind and she turned to look at the fallen dragon.

It was sprawled on the ground, some scales still crumbling apart and his wings tattered and full of holes like an old travelling cloak, still as a rock and with its eyes closed; for a while nothing happened until the body of the dragon twitched and a new pained moan escaped from its jaws. Ran couldn't believe what she was seeing, how could it be still alive? Sure, she didn't use her full power but she wagered that she still was able to inflict enough wounds to kill it.

Seemingly oblivious to her disbelief the dragon moved again, this time more noticeably, and she let out another tired cry that told of all the pain that coursed through its battered body. That must have been all of it, those must have been the death throes of a wounded animal, the last defiant struggles of a body that didn't want to accept its death; she expected it to fall to the ground one last time and then its life would leave it along with its last breath.

As if to spite her the dragon slowly lifted an eyelid and after a few moments full of tension it let out another tired moan, only this time it almost sounded angry; under her own disbelieving eyes the dragon slowly raised from the ground, moving carefully as if it expected to fall apart if it did it too quickly, and once it stood at its full height it looked at her.

For a moment that lasted an eternity neither of the two moved a muscle nor did they made a sound, until finally the dragon let out a roar as loud as he never did before, a hellish sound that spoke of burning hatred, of the anger of an untouchable god that for the first time in its ageless life had shed blood, of a revenge that wouldn't be complete until each single drop would have been paid back a thousand tenfold.

As this events transpired a similar change went into effect for Ran; slowly but surely her expression of wild disbelief was replaced by one of tired acceptance and as the dragon began to take to the air although more slowly than before, she could only sigh with the tiredness of someone that cursed his destiny but still accepted its inevitability.

"When I get back from this, I don't care what Lady Yukari says, I'm getting at least a full plate of Inari Sushi."

* * *

 **A.N. Alright this one was hard to finish, but i had to finish it for some key reason. The first is that in this story we finally see what Ran is truly made off and it certainly isn't a nose-bleeding butt-of-the-joke character; for crying out loud she's a nine tailed kitsune, she deserved to be treated as such! Another reason is the issue with Spell Cards: some stories make them always non-lethal, others made them suddenly become deadly with no apparent reason; some make so it's Reimu that can decided whether or not they're dangerous, other had turned it into a property of the barrier; i hope my solution is something you can get behind. Finally, the bane of all crossover, power levels: if you read this fight you should have realized that i did my best to heavily handicap Ran power, you should expect more of that in the future; before you grab the pitchfork for me nerfing your Touhous, let's get real for a moment, the mini-hakkero is powerful enough to destroy a mountain while Reimu [ Fantasy Nature ] without a timer would make her invincible and this are just "simple" humans. What can the Gate world offer that could stand up to that? So to avoid turning everything into a cumberstomp battle i have to play it clever like this. Sorry if it isn't to your liking.**

 **Now onto the serious part. My university life is tiring and i'm trying to get a job; by now my laptop should have become a running gag and you have to believe me when i say that after this chapter i'm spent. Besides that a friendly fellow and Gate writer from this very own site has asked me to be his beta and another buddy of mine from another writing site would love if i tried my hand at a one-shot. I might take the chance to relax and put some order in my head. Feel free to curse my heart of black mold for leaving you waiting after this chapter, i can understand that. I'm still not telling you were i live though. That is to say to not panic if after a month i still have to update, in the meantime do something else, enjoy life, whatever suit your fancy. I'm still working on this project and even if it took me years i'm going to finish it.**

 **That being said i also feel like i should thank all of you that follow me and favourited me, welcome to the newcomers and thanks to those that waited patiently. Thanks also to the reviewers, without you i wouldn't know what you guys think of this so thank you. Well, this turned out to be quite the mouthful, didn't it? Until next time, see ya!**


	9. A Maiden Illusionary Hope

Asking about whether or not the Hakurei Shrine was popular was a tricky question: if one meant to ask if there were usually visitors then the answer would have been affirmative, but if what one truly meant was to ask if many people visited said holy building, then it all came down to whether or not one considered youkai to be people. Troublemakers and annoying guests aside, the shrine had a respectable history of freeloaders that contributed to keep those numbers as high as they were; some would just come around for a tea and some snacks, before leaving with a promise of a future visit and no donation to help sustain the shrine maiden that offered them those treats in the first place, while others had spent so long hanging around the shrine grounds and helping themselves to the limited food reserve that their presence had become as much of a constant as the rising of the sun.

It was a new addiction to this already crowded roster however that brought Reimu to her current predicament with Yukari. "How long again before we get news from beyond the Gate?" she asked trying to restrain her irritation and failing to do so. It probably had to do with how said gap youkai was absent mindedly fanning herself despite the obvious problem they were facing.

"I thought you would have been more patient than that, it has been less then two days since Sanae went through and Ran followed her, it would have been concerning if they already contacted us. Don't worry, as soon as any of the two will find anything useful they'll have us know about it."

"You do remember that we aren't the only one interested in news from the other side, right?" Reimu said, looking more and more frustrated by the second.

"I'm sure both Kanako and Suwako can understand that patience is needed in this sort of work, even if they are worried about Sanae" Yukari replied trying to avoid the conversation the girl was going for.

Reimu however was pretty persistent on it and so she came back with another question: "And what about the Yama? I thought she had a deal with you involving finding out who was responsible for handling the souls of the dead so that she could finally get rid of those sixty thousands spirits from that world."

"That is certainly true, however you can't possible believe that in this little time either of them could have already found about it, afterall it's a matter of time, as I already told her last time she came back to check our progress." Despite trying her best to sound light hearted about the matter, there was no hiding the slight worry that tinted her voice as she said those last words.

"That's not the problem, I already made peace with myself and accepted that for being a necessity" Reimu told her, her irritation growing by the second.

"Really?" asked in mock surprise Yukari "Then what is the problem?"

"The problem..." the shrine maiden began, before taking a deep breath to calm herself "The problem is that I don't see how this translate into _her_ spending the last three days freeloading here!" she shouted before pointing her finger at a figure sitting in the corner of the room.

She was a woman with short raspberry hairs tied in two pigtails by a pair of red double beads and she wore a white dress underneath a blue vest, all held together by an obi with a large coin tied in the middle. At the moment she seemed to be asleep, her back propped against the wall and a scythe with a strange twisted blade laid next to her.

For a few moments Yukari pretended to think it over before she turned back to Reimu: "Oh, you mean that? I have no idea, really."

While Reimu was fuming Yukari found the sight of a throbbing vein in the hand she was using to grasp the edge of the table extremely interesting. "Then why didn't you ask her? I thought you said that for the duration of this plan of yours both your house and my shrine were off limits to anyone."

"But I did ask her."

"What?" asked the girl, forgetting for a moment she was supposed to be angry at her and instead showing surprise.

"I did so the very first day she showed up, that's why I know there's no trouble letting her stay here."

"But you just said you didn't know why she was here!" shouted Reimu, all of her irritation now back at full force.

"What I said was that I had no idea why she felt the need to spend three days straight at your shrine, never once I implied that I didn't know why she came here in the first place" Yukari replied calmly with only a slight smile showing on her face.

"So, mind telling me as well?" Reimu asked her in a tone that promised violence otherwise.

Deciding that she had teased her enough for the day, Yukari finally gave her a clear answer: "The Yama simply wanted to be always informed of our progresses and our doings, to this end she assigned her to keep an eye on us and report to her later. If I had to guess why she's still here, I'd say that was simply her own idea."

"So she probably took the chance to slack off here at my expenses" concluded Reimu while grumbling.

"I'm still here, you know?" a new voice asked and turning in her direction they saw that the woman was no longer asleep, instead she was looking at them with sleepy red eyes.

"Not like one could tell given how you spent your time in this three days" Reimu snarked back, now focused on her current source of frustration.

"Hey, sorry if things didn't go south enough for me to feel like I had to lend you an hand!" the woman said, lacing her tone with sarcasm "Besides, you know what Hell policy is regarding this sort of incident, the less I meddle around the better. All I can do is keep an eye out in case you screw up too much."

"That still doesn't explain why you're here instead of the Sanzu River" the shrine maiden replied with her arms crossed.

This seemed to actually gave her pause, but after a while she still answered the question: "Since this is where news of what's going on will reach out first anyway, I thought it would be better if I didn't get too far, just in case I could miss something."

"You just wanted an excuse to slack off, didn't you?"

The blunt declaration manage to make the woman go stiff for a moment, before she huffed in annoyance and she began ranting: "Ok, fine, maybe I don't really need to be here, but do you have any idea what the Sanzu shores are like right now? Those dead souls are still parked there waiting until you guys have a solution for it and they won't shut up! Don't get me wrong, I actually enjoy chatting with the departed to pass time, but that's because at least they have interesting stories. Those guys instead just keep pestering me about a Inroy or whatever his name is and how they deserve to join his realm, as if I could do something about it!"

She breathed out to calm herself before continuing: "So yes, I couldn't stand them any longer and so I decided to take a break and what better place then the one I'm supposed to keep watch of anyway?"

"With how much you slept I wouldn't say you did a great job in that regard either" Reimu said unimpressed by the outburst "Besides, don't you have the job of ferrying souls anyway? I don't think the current situation changed anything regarding that."

"Oh, that? I wouldn't worry about it, everything is under control" the shinigami replied dismissively.

"Like you did during the Flowers Incident?"

"Again with that? I already told that I would have dealt with it, I was just doing it at my own pace."

"As much as endearing this line of conversation is I think it went on long enough" interrupted Yukari, stopping Reimu from coming up with yet another retort "While it is true that we have yet to see how things are coming along beyond the Gate, that doesn't mean that there is nothing on our end that we can't deal with."

"Are you talking of something in particular?" asked the shrine maiden having already a suspicion of what such talk was about.

"Why, yes, you really do seem to have a knack for this things" Yukari mockingly complimented her before getting serious once again "I noticed that recently a lot of people have been buzzing around here and some of them seem quite persistent at that. Care to share your opinion on the matter?"

"What can I say?" replied sighing Reimu "Even when you don't take into account obnoxious hermit or noisy tengu, there is still a lot of people that find suspicious how I holed up here all this time. Add to that all the times I had to sneak around to fix some of the messes this incident is causing and you got yourself a recipe for disaster."

"I thought you said you already dealt with those people" asked Yukari, more as confirmation than as reprimand.

"Yes, but that was before Sanae also began to show herself around less and less with each passing week, I can't even imagine what will happen when they'll notice that she too has _"holed up"_ in her shrine."

"Which is why we have to do our best at keeping things as hushed as possible" replied Yukari somewhat grimly.

"You really think this will last long enough?" asked Reimu, clearly troubled by the alternative.

"Trust me, I don't like this any more than you do, but amongst all of our choices there never was an option less risky than what we got" remarked grimly the older woman "If it's true that we should thank small mercies then I guess we should be glad everything went into motion without an hitch like it did for us."

No longer has she finished those words that a familiar buzzing sound made itself known in the now silent room. Fishing around her clothes Yukari brought out once again her Outside World contraption and shortly after she began speaking into it: "Yes Ran? What is it now?"

Her expression however quickly turned serious as she most likely got her answer: "You need to see me now? What do you mean something happened, can't you deal with it by yourself?"

As even Reimu was getting tense over a conversation she was left to imagine with her worried mind, Yukari was faring no better if her scowl was of any sign: "Recover? Recover from what, just what did you get yourself in this time? Fine, fine! I'll open a gap right now, calm down! I expect a full report as soon as you get here."

With that she turned the device off and found herself under the scrutinizing gaze of one angry shrine maiden. "Yes? Anything to say?" she asked clearly miffed by the whole situation, but still trying her best to hide it.

"You know, I'm beginning to think that everytime you reassure me of how sound this plan of yours is, something happens and put a spoke in our wheel, forcing us to work around it."

"Isn't that a bit too much pessimistic coming from you?" replied the woman, clearly unamused by the insinuation.

As if to answer her question a gap opened in the room and out of it came Ran, however she was in such condition that Yukari immediately became worried, Reimu stumbled back in shock and even the shinigami, despite feeling detached by the whole situation, raised an eyebrow in interest to what she saw. Her clothes were dirtied and torn apart all over and what exposed skin she had was either singed or covered in shallow cuts, while her right hand appeared to be broken judging by how swollen and limp it appeared. What was truly shocking however was the obvious cut over her left shoulder and while the clothing covering it made impossible to see it directly, the large bloodstain made clear that either it was a deep wound or it had been left free to bleed for a long amount of time.

For a few tense moments there was nothing but silence in the room, until the shinigami got up from her sitting position after grabbing her scythe and made her way to the door.

"Hey! Where you think you're going?" shouted Reimu in disbelief.

"Uh, out of here? I thought it was obvious enough" replied the woman in confusion.

"That's not what I meant, weren't you supposed to keep an eye out for trouble? Because this looks an awfully lot like the beginning of a big one!"

"No, I'm here to look for trouble regarding that matter with the souls" replied nonchalantly the woman before turning to an obviously tired Ran "Hey fox, did whatever happened to you involved someone related with the Afterlife on that side?"

Quickly getting over her own confusion Ran began to answer her: "I don't think so, not directly at least since it was..."

"See? Nothing I should get involved with" the shinigami cut her off "Now if you excuse me, while you deal with whatever mess you got yourself into, I think I'll check out the Sanzu River for a bit. It's true that everything is under control, but if something was to go wrong while I'm away I'll never hear the end of it from the Yama."

Her piece of words said she quickly left the room, leaving the other three people inside to face yet another awkward silence, until Yukari turned to her servant and asked in a tone full of expectation: "Well? Care to tell us what exactly went wrong?"

Ran sighed as if to resign herself to her fate before she began telling what she went through: "It all began while I was out scouting the surroundings of the JSDF base..."

* * *

The job of the Recon Teams wasn't that taxing once one thought about it; while those back at the FOB were likely still working on securing the lands around it and improving the fortifications, something that didn't take a genius to figure out how it would be a backbreaking work, the lucky few that were selected to join one of those Teams were only required to drive deeper into unexplored territory, to meet with the people living there and possibly establishing the foundation for future relationships while gathering intel and to avoid trouble.

Therefore it would be unreasonable to think that someone assigned to that job would find it boring, stressful or even a waste of time. Against all odds however, such an individual did exist and was currently visiting what was the largest village she had come across together with Recon Team 6. What made even less sense was how said person had apparently requested to do such work in the first place, however that would have been true if the people she worked with knew she had such thoughts in the first place.

The reason why nobody suspected that was the case was because Professor Sanae Kazetani, PhD in anthropology of religion, was doing an excellent job at fulfilling her role in the mission, inquiring about traditions, beliefs and religions everytime they came across a settlement no matter how small or big it was and obtaining fulfilling answers despite being a stranger followed closely by a menacing looking soldier.

What nobody could know however was that Sanae Kochiya, shrine maiden of the Moriya Shrine and now working as inside woman for Yukari Yakumo, was having very poor luck when it came down to her secondary objective. In theory she was to find out any sort of proof that not only slavery was in practice but Japanese citizens had been captured and forced into it, so that a proper investigation and hopefully following rescue mission could be enacted. In practice it was much harder when there was constantly a soldier looking after her just as much as he was looking _at_ her and having to do so while speaking in broken Common Tongue was borderline impossible.

To be honest it wasn't like the last point would have been that much of an hassle if it wasn't for her first problem, Yukari did use whatever boundary thing she did to make so she could hold an normal conversation on the other side of the Gate, however to an external observer it would have looked like she and whoever she was speaking with were understanding each other while speaking two different languages. Even if that wasn't the case Sanae had to admit that if she was to suddenly start speaking fluently a language that everyone else was still studying that would have been more than just suspicious.

That didn't meant she didn't try regardless, she did managed to lag behind or distract her escort long enough to ask about what she was looking for, but so far with the roundabout way she had to phrase her questions to not rise any suspicion she didn't get anything useful. Sanae also chalked it up to them having visited so far only small settlements, so small that most of them didn't even had any short of mercantile installation and some of them even lacked any religious building, be them a temple, a shrine or even small altars for offerings just outside the village.

She guessed by that point of view her mission had been a resounding success so far, given that what information she managed to gather was leaps and bounds ahead of even what Yukari had managed to learn beforehand. While she was sure there was much more to learn, Sanae still gained knowledge about those people's gods, how their Afterlife supposedly worked, which of their stories about monster were just to scare misbehaving children and which one instead were true; in few words, she had done the job she had been " _given"_ by the JSDF as her cover identity was expected to do.

However she couldn't help but be reminded that every day she didn't make any progress with her secret task was another day innocent people spent suffering under their captors, knowing that one of them was a girl she used to know and toward which she still felt grateful for the trust and friendliness she showed her didn't help with her growing sense of guilt.

Which was why she was so eager to set to work once she realized that the village they just entered was the biggest they had seen so far and even had some sort of mercantile installation, probably thanks to the river that streaked across it and the port that had grown around it. Even if it sounded more like an attempt of reassuring herself than a thought out deduction, Sanae was confident that in a place with so many people and such a thriving trading outpost there had to be more chances to finally get the information she was looking for.

Almost an hour later however she had yet to make any miraculous breakthrough in her search and, as her escort kindly reminded her, they would depart in ten minutes and then make their way back to base to report their discoveries. This meant that unless by some stroke of luck she managed to find something actually useful in a matter of minutes, it would be days before she would have another chance at it, days she would have to waste pretending to write her report about customs of which at the moment she couldn't care any less. So instead of waiting for such an occurrence to happen she decided to try a gamble that if successful could give her the results she wanted.

She briefly glanced around, looking for something she could use for her plan, until she noticed a flimsy display rack covered with lots of fragile and precariously placed pottery; the fact that her bodyguard was practically in front of it was just an added boon. It didn't take a lot of her concentration to summon a small gust of wind and tip the whole structure out of balance, what followed next was just the natural conclusion of said process.

To the soldier that was looking after her it looked like the wooden rack had suddenly began to fall on top of him and so he tried to stop it out of reflex. For a moment it seemed to work until some plates at first and some small vases soon after began to fall down; finally his fate was sealed when a particularly large pot smashed against his head and he briefly lost his footing. Next thing he knew he was laying on the ground, covered in smashed pottery and the broken remain of the wooden rack, and the owner of them was on him in an instant, apologizing profusely for the incident out of fear of how this mysterious soldier would react.

That was all Sanae needed to made her way unnoticed toward a woman working at a nearby stall that also sold pottery and that was trying her hardest to hide how much she appreciated the stroke of bad luck that hit her competition. Now that she earned some time to speak without any limitation, she could make every seconds of it counts.

"Excuse me?"

So instead of wasting time by pretending to speak like a stuttering child she made full use of what help Yukari gifted her with. The woman she addressed was briefly taken aback by how clearly she spoke the language but soon enough she dismissed it and instead she asked in return as she would with any other customer: "Yes? How can I help you?"

At first Sanae almost fell back into the already ingrained conversation she usually put up whenever she met with the locals until she remembered the little stunt she just pulled and instead decided to be more open about her intentions.

"Actually yes, what can you tell me about the trades around here?"

The woman seemed confused for a few seconds before she composed herself and answered with professionalism: "I'm not too sure what you mean by that, we may have a port by the river but we are still a relatively small village. Aside from food and some clothing you would be hard pressed to find any more luxurious item like what I'm selling."

The girl suspected in no small measure that the answer she just received was in equal measure supposed to tell her some partial truth and to tempt her to buy some of the woman's wares. Ignoring the obvious attempt to sway her she pressed forward with her inquiry: "I know that, but perhaps there are some more _"peculiar"_ item that may be not necessarily sold here but might still transit through?"

"You need to be more specific, almost anything going to Sadera have to sail up the river at one point or another" answered back the merchant, some irritation showing up as it was clear that she wouldn't manage to sell anything to the girl in front of her.

"Well, I heard that recently a lot of new wares had been moving around, some say that there even were a lot of new people coming up from seemingly nowhere, so I was wondering..."

The woman must had understood the hidden meaning behind those words and they probably were the wrong thing to ask her given how her expression quickly darkened. Sanae quickly realized her mistake, but she was cut off before she could come up with any reply.

"Listen here, girlie" the woman said with clear hostility "Even if the people of Sadera have their quirks when it comes to this matter we're still an honest village, honest enough to not deal with that kind of stuff."

It didn't take a genius to realize the situation was getting out of hand, but Sanae had no idea what to do and somewhere in the back of her mind she also remembered that it probably wouldn't take too long before her escort freed himself from the mess she put him in and realized she wandered off on her own. She could only hope that by that time she would be already be out of the heated argument and that he wouldn't raise too many questions.

She still tried however to calm the woman down by any possible measure: "I know that and I wouldn't dare to think otherwise, but we're kind of new around here so I thought that maybe you could knew something about it."

"So now you're saying that we look like the kind of people that would deal with slavers?"

Those words managed to fill Sanae with many contrasting emotions at once; she grimaced knowing that she just managed to worsen the woman's anger, yet she was excited since she just got, albeit involuntarily, her first real admission that slavery did exist, but she was also frustrated since she full knew that everything in how she got that information couldn't be written down in a report, making the whole discovery a moot point.

While she was going through such mixed feelings the woman in front of her kept going with her tirade: "Just because we recognize the necessity of that kind of trade, it doesn't mean we don't realize it's a dirty business, too dirty for good people like us. So if you're looking for that kind of wares you better be looking somewhere else, especially because I doubt you will be welcome any longer here if you went around making those kind of questions."

"I just wanted to..."

"Just go away!" the merchant finally snapped "Go get your slaves somewhere else!"

Already resigned to no getting anything else out of her Sanae turned on her heels, only to almost run into her escort that was currently sporting a confused look. She was immediately took over by panic, the fear of him having heard too much of the finished conversation becoming more and more of a certainty the longer she thought about it. Just as she was about to enter a state of "fight or flight" in preparation to his attempt to detain her he finally asked her in confusion: "Why did you leave me behind? I almost couldn't find you!"

That gave her some pause; that wasn't what she expected by someone who just saw her blow her cover, so she hoped against hope that he arrived too late to the scene to hear anything compromising and instead she came up with an excuse: "Sorry, I was so engrossed by the size of this place that I didn't noticed you were lagging behind."

The soldier sighed tiredly before looking at her like one would look at a child that misbehaved: "Just try to not daydream and instead stick around me next time, if you were to get as much as a scratch while under my protection the brass would talk my ears off about my responsibilities before putting me on guard duty for the rest of our stay here. That of course if they felt generous."

"Again, I'm sorry for scurrying off like that, but what happened for you to lose sight of me like that?" Sanae asked feigning ignorance in hope to chance the subject of the conversation.

"To be honest I'm not too sure, one moment I was walking down the street and next thing I know a damn wooden rack fall on top of me along with dozens of pottery. It wouldn't have been too bad in itself but the owner just kept on apologizing, saying that something like that never happened before and trying his best to give me some of his wares for free as an apology."

"That sure sounds annoying" replied the girl with an awkward laugh.

"Sure it was" the soldier said with little to no emotion "Anyway, we've been wasting too much time here, I've just been told over the com that in a few minutes we'll be leaving so we better fall back to the meeting point."

Nodding Sanae began walking back with him until a thought seemed to came to his mind and he turned to her once again: "Say, what were you arguing about with that woman?"

Sanae had to fight against her own body to avoid stopping dead in her track or flinching once she understood was he just asked her. Still with considerable effort she tried to sound as nonchalantly as possible as she answered him as they walked: "I was just asking her the usual stuff when she suddenly got angry at me. Why you ask?"

The soldier shrugged his shoulder as he kept looking ahead: "I caught the last words she shouted and it sounded like she wanted you to buy something. I don't know what though, the word she used isn't in our guides."

It didn't took long to her to realize she had just been given a golden opportunity; given what her escort heard, if she could come up with a believable story she had chance to make the JSDF aware of the existence of slavery and from there if she was lucky they could have questioned themselves about whether or not some of the people gone missing during the Ginza Incident had instead been enslaved.

The biggest problem however was that just as the soldier said the JSDF vocabulary didn't contained the word "slave", so she couldn't just claim that the woman just let slip their existence. After some thought she came up with a phrasing that she thought acceptable and she gave her answer: "That's the strange thing, she was telling of how in their bigger cities they built huge temple for their deities, but when I wondered about how many people must have worked on those building and how it would have been quite the experience to see them at work she got nervous."

Seeing as so far he seemed to have bought her tale she finished: "I guess she must have misunderstood me at some point because she started talking about dirty trades and how they didn't do them, then she got angry and yelled at me to go buy somewhere else whatever that word meant."

"That does sounds strange" the soldier conceded her before scratching his head "Sounds like there's some sort of story behind it."

"I know right?" Sanae asked back "I was thinking of mentioning in the report just for safety, this does sounds like something that might be needed as future reference."

"Definitely, if you somehow offended her we need to know why to avoid this to happen again" replied her escort, missing the completely the point and yet giving the girl hope about the success of that gamble.

Just as she was internally celebrating her success, she was once again caught by surprised, only this time she did stop walking and instead she looked around in the crowded street. Those action didn't went unnoticed by her escort however which promptly asked her: "Is anything wrong?"

After spending a few moments regaining her bearings Sanae finally answered: "No, I just thought I heard something." That much was true, what she didn't told him was that she heard a voice from within the crowd humming a tone that somehow felt familiar. She couldn't put her finger on it, but it felt like that tone came from a song she should have known and she now instead was unable to give it either name or words. Somehow that made her feel unnerved but after some self coaxing she decided the stress was beginning to get to her head.

Besides, even if she truly did hear something there was no way she could feel any familiarity toward it, right?

* * *

"So let me get things straight; you were out scouting when you were attacked by a flock of wyverns and a dragon, possibly sent by an Apostle you had an earlier confrontation with to kill you."

"I believe that was the intent, yes."

"A confrontation of which you told me nothing."

"She wasn't anything impressive so I thought there was no need to mention her before the scheduled debriefing."

"A confrontation against _the agent of a god's will_ of which you told me nothing!"

"... Yes."

"So you proceeded to engage them while trying to not gain the attention of a nearby settlement that according to you was one of magic users."

"That was what they felt like, it was much more unrefined but it was magic nonetheless."

"So you fought them and after a fierce battle in which you were injured you finally managed to apparently kill all of your opposition."

"Yes, I thought my attack was strong enough to accomplish that."

"Then you were wrong given that you're here now."

Ran could only shrink in answer to the tone her master used. She just finished recalling what transpired during her stay in the Special Region and to say that Yukari wasn't amused by the news was an understatement. Reimu almost pitied the youkai for what she was currently enduring, but then she remembered that it was thanks to her that new _"complications"_ had arose.

"But obvious statements aside, you said that was when the Apostle sneak attacked you, right?"

"Yes, she took advantage of my temporary exhaustion to score an hit and I definitely didn't thought her wings were anything more than cosmetic. Luckily I still saw it coming so at least I reduced the extent of my wound" Ran replied in an ashamed tone, if by failing her master or by letting someone get the drop on her Reimu couldn't tell.

"And to top it all the dragon was still alive."

"Barely" the shikigami tried to negotiate before a glare from Yukari made her think otherwise "But yes, it managed to survive and it tried to attack me along with its master, until I got away from them enough for the dragon to notice something else."

"Right, this is when things truly get interesting, the village" the older youkai replied with an hardness still present in her voice "The dragon decided to attack the very same village you noticed earlier and while the commotion you made was more than enough to make them began an evacuation, it still attacked them too soon for them to reach safety."

"That was the case unfortunately" Ran admitted "I did however managed to incapacitate the Apostle long enough to take another shot at the dragon and make it count." Somehow this seemed to be enough for her to regain some confidence if the slight smile she had was anything to go by.

"So why didn't you finished it off?" asked Yukari with impatience.

The answer to that question must have been something that wouldn't please the elder youkai given how Ran expression fell once again. "I noticed an approaching convoy, by my estimate they were already in sighting range of the dragon, I couldn't use magic without being noticed and if the dragon was attacked by an apparently invisible force it wouldn't have much better either. Instead I decided to retreat and give a full report, especially seeing how after the last attack the dragon was retreating."

For a moment Yukari seemed to have become a stone statue, a state that Reimu knew by personal experience to precede either a fit of irritation or a much more dangerous calm calculative fury, so in both cases she dreaded what was to come.

"Were they the JSDF?" she asked in an unreadable tone.

"It could be, I kept myself at distance so I didn't get a good look but given how they're scouting the land that's definitely a possibility."

The sharp intake of air that followed was anything but a good sign, the shrine maiden decided before Yukari spoke once again: "What of the Apostle? Could she have tracked you down during your trip back?"

"I believe it would have been hard given her newfound lack of wings" Ran answered her while Reimu was shocked to hear the length the kitsune went to ensure the safety of the mission.

Yukari still seemed to be thinking over the whole situation for a few more seconds until finally she took a more relaxed breath and asked: "What of the dragon's condition?"

Seemingly detecting her master improved mood, Ran allowed herself to lose some tension before answering: "Overall I'd say its armour has been severely weakened, not to the point of being ineffective, but if I was to fight against it once again this time I would kill it for sure. Its wings were also damaged heavily, I would say it lost roughly 39% of its lift capability. Then there's the strike to its head, given its slowed reaction time and how it seemed to be unstable in its movement I'll say it's a given that it received some measure of brain damage. Finally there's the blinded eye."

"The result of your last attack?" Yukari asked more in confirmation than curiosity.

"No, that would be the ulterior thinning of its armour and relatively superficial gash on the left side of its neck" Ran answered surprisingly.

"Then what of the eye?" Yukari asked her, this time genuinely curious.

"It seems like the locals are more resourceful than what we first thought" she answered.

"I see."

Yukari seemed to be thinking over all she had been told and Reimu could clearly see numerous thoughts and emotions crossing her eyes. After what seemed an eternity she finally spoke: "How are you? That wound looks troubling."

At first Ran seemed caught of guard by the question, until she schooled herself once again to show a stoic face and she gave her answer: "It's not too deep, but I suspect that Apostle applied some kind of magic to her weapon, either a divine blessing or a curse, given my natural regeneration has almost stopped. The rest of my wounds should be healed by evening and by then I estimate I'll be at 82,7% combat efficiency, I can be back to my mission as soon as tomorrow morning."

"That won't be necessary, I relieve you from your task until you're back to full efficiency" replied Yukari almost nonchalantly.

"Are you sure?" asked incredulous the shikigami before adding in concern: "Lady Yukari, it could take up to three days, if something was to happen in the meantime to the Moriya's shrine maiden..."

"Ran, I'm constantly keeping an eye out for her and besides she can take care of herself, if something indeed were to happen it won't be because you took a rest. What concern me instead it's the possibility of you being ambushed once again while you're not at your full strength and given how you managed to outmatch that Apostle twice already I don't think the third time she will hold back any punches."

Ran started a reply that Yukari cut off once again: "As unlikely as it is for her to accomplish more than what she did today, that doesn't mean it's impossible, therefore it's a chance I won't take. You may end up doing blunders like this one at times, but that doesn't mean you aren't my most trusted shikigami, so I definitely won't risk losing you for such a trifling matter."

If before she was confused, now Ran was left as a stuttering mess by the unexpected admission but in the end she regained her control as usual and simply bowed in acceptance: "Understood, I shall take my leave then Lady Yukari."

Once she was out of the room Reimu turned to the youkai and asked her: "What was that?"

"I have no idea what you could possibly mean."

"You know exactly what I mean, one moment it looked like you were ready to strangle her to death and the next one you suddenly mellowed and got all sweet and caring. If I didn't know any better I'll say you're finally going senile."

"My, how could you say such rude things!" she answered dramatically while bringing an hand to her mouth "To think you'd say that of the woman that lent you an hand so many time, you truly are an ungrateful shrine maiden!"

Reimu just rolled her eyes and kept staring at her until she finally had enough of her own charade: "Seriously though, I meant every word I said, I'm not willing to take any unnecessary risk just for a upstart servant of a foreign god with too much of an ego streak."

"Even if said upstart servant apparently can control a dragon on a whim?" Reimu replied sceptically.

"Reimu, by now you should have learned that a servant is only as strong as his master let him be, that's my true concern in all of this" Yukari told her condescendingly.

"You think whatever god she's working for could be trouble?"

"I don't think it, I know it. You heard what Ran said about her wound and I found something else that make much more obvious how that dragon managed to survive."

"Aside from being tough?" asked Reimu in confusion.

As if to answer her Yukari showed her the palm of her hand, where a small fragment of a red substance rested. "This is a fragment of the dragon's scale, it was stuck on Ran's clothes and she didn't noticed it. However I gave it a look and discovered that it's not normal even for something that came from a thirty meter fire breathing dragon; it has been enhanced by magic."

That caught Reimu attention: "You mean someone strengthened that dragon scales?"

"Not someone, it's not that hard to guess who did it. Regardless, while not too awfully complicated the magnitude of the spell used is still impressive, which is why I think this is more of a blessing to repel harm than a proper spell. Then there is the supposed curse the Apostle used on her weapon; I gave a look at Ran's wound and I didn't saw a curse, but an alteration of the boundary of health and illness."

Those last words managed to set the shrine maiden immediately on edge: "Boundary? You mean she used your same power?"

"Don't be silly, of course not, I'm one of a kind. Besides I said alteration not manipulation, everyone can alter a boundary to some degree, it takes much more skill to manipulate it" Yukari replied as if it was something obvious "What worries me is that this are most likely powers she borrowed from her god, which then bring the question as to what kind of god would have power over those aspect of life."

Reimu was left conflicted by those revelation, it was obvious that whatever Ran and by extension them had stumbled upon was something they still weren't ready to deal with, but that simple truth did nothing to tell her a solution to the mess they found themselves in. So in the end she decided she might as well play as the gap youkai wanted her to play and ask her the question she knew she was waiting for.

"Now what?"

"Depends on who you ask" Yukari began to say as she got on her feet "You still need to look around Gensokyo as we planned, it also wouldn't hurt if you did as I told you countless time already and trained a bit. I believe it's time for you to work on your summoning of gods, we never went beyond the basics and this would be the perfect time to refine your technique."

Reimu couldn't help but grimace, given Yukari definition of training she was in for a treat.

"As for me, I need to further examine this new evidences we found, afterall we might be dealing with a god related with death and Afterlife given what we know so far." She then smiled in way that did little to mask the countless plans and machinations she was coming up with at that very moment: "Maybe that slacker of a shinigami should have involved herself in this after all."

* * *

 **A.N. I'm back from the dead! Seriously, it's been far too long, i trust you have already a pretty good idea by now of what's going on in my life thanks to these AN, so just now that things are getting much busier, like a lot, so even the next chapters might take just as long. Please put down the pitchfork. That aside i just notice something about this story stats and i have something to say!**

 **Yukari: "Don't do it."**

 **I will.**

 **Yukari: "No really, you'll be just ridiculous."**

 **Sorry! I can't hear you!**

 **Yukari: "Fine! But i did warn you!"**

 **It's over 9000!**

 **...**

 **Ahem, so yes, this story is over 9000 views, you guys are crazy! I really don't think i can thank you enough for this, so instead let's talk about the story, shall we? You may have noticed but the Ran in my story is quite the efficient battle hardened veteran. I previously stated that i mainly draw inspiration by a doujin i read, but with my recent discovery of Touhouvania 2 and of the amazing villain role they gave to Ran i'm even more confident that this kind of characterization can work out. That been said, thank you again for reading this story, if you were so kind to leave a review it would be awesome, i hope you can wait until next chapter, in the meantime have a good time. See ya!**


	10. Deified Human of the Wind

Sumireko didn't want to admit it but she was beginning to be worried. It had been days since Mamizou went through the Gate and just as she said they hadn't been in contact since then. According to her partner in crime this was an advantage toward the success of their plan, since even if one of the two were to be busted the other would still be able to carry out her part of the plan with none the wiser. It also meant however that until the tanuki returned of her own will there was no way for Sumireko to know whether or not she had been successful; even worse, for all she knew the woman could have just as well kicked the bucket and she would still not know any better.

While she could admit that thought was an exaggeration, she still couldn't shake off some concern for the woman against her better judgement. Sure, she forced her to help her out through what basically was blackmailing but in the end she still got her out of a nasty spot back when they met months ago, in a sense it would have been weirder if she dismissed so easily the well being of her benefactor, no matter how many ulterior motives she had behind it.

Ever since the dome surrounding the Gate was completed it had become impossible to keep an eye on the daily traffics that happened around it and after what happened she didn't felt like trying her luck with a blind teleport. That meant that once Mamizou was two days late on their accorded rendezvous Sumireko had no better choice than look for her around the dome in hope that they would run into each other.

For her even greater joy, since technically she still had been detained by the military getting caught snooping around once again could spell disaster, both for her and the plan. That meant she had to try her hardest to be as inconspicuous as an high-schooler standing at a street corner looking for a woman near a military installation could be. So it was also obvious why beyond concerning she would also find her current predicament to be a tiring one.

If nothing serious had happened, Sumireko just wished the tanuki woman would stop taking her sweet time leaving her to eat her own liver. But as things were for the moment she was stuck staking out a back entrance to the dome for what was the third time that day, slowly but surely falling into what by now had become a familiar state of fading consciousness that came with spending hours on her feet with nothing better to do that staring at the slab of metal that was the door to the inside of the dome.

"You don't look too good."

"Of course I don't, you try spending the last two days doing nothing but standing around like a mannequin" the girl replied somewhat drowsily.

"I don't recall anyone asking you to do that."

"So what? You just expected me to not worry at all after..." she replied, only to stop once she realized far too late than she would admit that someone else had been talking to her. Shaking off the last of her sleepiness she realized much more quickly the identity of her interlocutor.

"You!" she half-shouted accusingly while pointing at her with a finger.

"That's right, I'm back!" Mamizou replied, obviously enjoying the girl flaring temper "Did you enjoy this short vacation? I take that you missed me?"

All that teasing did nothing to calm Sumireko down but at least she had the decency to lower her voice after catching some of the looks she gained with her previous outburst.

"What took you so long? You said that even if you did find nothing you would get back here anyway after some time and yet you're almost late by three days on our appointment!"

"Wow, not even a welcome back? I wasn't expecting much, even just asking if I enjoyed myself would have been enough" the older woman joked while feigning obliviousness toward the girl's irritation.

"Hi Mamizou, did you enjoyed yourself?" Sumireko asked in a flat tone "There! Now can you tell me why you kept me waiting?"

"Alright, alright, no need to get so grumpy" the tanuki finally conceded to the high-schooler "But perhaps we can start to walk back to your home while I tell you? It wouldn't do after all of our effort if we were to be sighted so near to the Gate now, right?"

Despite knowing she had a point there the girl still didn't want to give her the satisfaction of complying to her request and so she asked in return: "Why do we need to do it? I think my disguise is good enough to hide me."

"Your _disguise_?" Mamizou replied sceptically while looking at the bright blue hooded raincoat the girl was wearing.

"Yes, I thought that it wouldn't be wise getting back here in my usual clothes when the soldiers in there probably still have my profile at hand."

"While I admire your forethought I doubt a high school girl wearing a raincoat during a sunny day in the middle of Ginza would be ignored that easily" the older woman replied condescendingly.

"But how am I supposed to not stand out then?"

"To begin with you could stop wearing a cape."

Giving up on winning this argument Sumireko sighed in defeat before starting to walk away, followed at short distance by her accomplice.

"So, now that you're done teasing me, can we be serious and talk about what happened?" the girl asked in a much more controlled yet serious tone.

"Of course we can, it's just that to be honest, acting always the part of the blissfully ignorant traveller in a place where the most interesting things that can happen are being accused of being a spy or listening to a bartender talking for hours about the village latest gossip made me miss our friendly banter" answered the older woman in a much more even tone.

"I wouldn't define you constantly reminding me of being a bonehead and teasing me to no end as _friendly banter_ " replied with some heat Sumireko before looking somewhat embarassed and adding almost as an afterthought "Althought I guess it's somehow nice knowing you looked forward to talking with me."

"See, you really can act like a nice girl when you put your heart in it" said Mamizou enthusiastically, doing no effort to hide her pleased grin.

Sumireko's pleasant expression immediately dropped and instead she said while looking particularly irked: "And of course you immediately ruined the mood. Let's just talk about what happened before I can get any more disappointed."

"I will ignore how moody you are then, for now" the tanuki said in stride before cutting off whatever answer the girl was preparing "Technically it was an astounding success and as soon as you're ready we can try to move to phase two."

"Wait, what does it mean?" Sumireko asked noticing the odd phrasing "Did something happened?"

"Oh nothing much really, we won't need to go back in _there_ afterall" Mamizou quickly dismissed.

"Well, _technically_ we don't know if our way in works as we think it will so I'd like to know if once we get there we'll dive right in a wasps' nest" replied the high-schooler, with a grin that clearly told how much she was enjoying giving to her partner in crime a taste of her own medicine.

The older woman quickly shook of her displeasure for how her words had been turned against her and simply told her: "I swear, you act so impudent to your elders, I can't tell who gave you such a bad example. But to answer your question, I was told of a couple of place I could visit to gather what we needed. One proved to be interesting but not that useful, although the black-white would probably think otherwise, while the other was just what we were looking for but its inhabitant were much more... opinionated _._ "

"Meaning?" insisted Sumireko which had a bad feeling as to where the story was going.

"Turns out taking a stone laying around in a underground temple is considered sacrilegious and in no time I had to beat an hasty retreat to escape a mob of furious priestesses. Never expected such religious figures to be so proficient with knife throwing..."

"Let me get this straight" asked the girl while paling considerably "You went to what I assume was a religious city, infiltrated what most likely was a major temple, somehow managed to desecrate it by stealing a rock and pissing off a bunch of killer priestesses, ran all the way back here and you say there won't be a problem once we get back there?"

"See, I knew you could get all of that right!"

For a few seconds Sumireko did nothing but stare at her with a deadpan look until finally she managed to get out a few words: "And how is that fine?"

"Simple, we just have to not show ourselves around there next time."

"And again, how are you so sure about this? My entry point into Gensokyo it's always the same and you just said the Power Stone you got is from deep inside that temple" the high-schooler pressed onward, concern growing within her by the minute.

"First off, Gensokyo it's a special case since your "entry point"as you put it just so happen to also be on the border of the Barrier, meaning it's more likely to be the _only_ point you can get through. We won't have this kind of trouble when it comes to the Special Region especially now that we have something akin to a trail to follow. I can't be sure about the first time but I'm positive that once you got a "feel" of where to go with your power we won't have to get near that city anytime soon."

Sumireko must have looked still dubious since the tanuki woman quickly added: "Besides, we already did plan for you to mostly drop me in there and then go back home, at least until the safety of this mean of travel is proven, so you have nothing to worry about."

"What about you?"

Mamizou was caught off guard for a moment by the question, then she grinned in what looked like a mixture between mischievousness and fondness before answering: "What are you worrying about? These old bones of mine might no longer be in their prime but that don't mean I can't look after myself. Seriously, you should stop worrying so much about me or I might end up thinking you actually care about me."

"Stop teasing me! I thought you had enough of it already!" the girl replied embarassed, clearly troubled by how the older woman was still poking fun at her.

"Oh, but you should know I can't ever get enough of your flustered reactions, _assistant_ " she said still smiling like a Cheshire.

"You're the worst!"

* * *

If Sanae had to be honest with herself things could be much worse. Sure, she still was stranded in literally another world acting as a spy within the Japanese military and she was currently stuck writing reports about her "findings" despite knowing half of it already and forcing herself to don't slip in things that she shouldn't have known given the length of her stay in the Special Region as a "researcher", but given the stakes of her mission it truly wasn't too bad.

For one thing the soldiers from the Recon Team she had been assigned to were polite and they didn't seem to mind babysitting a civilian for hours, that alone had been a pleasant surprise. Even the recon itself wasn't too bad, in any other occasion she would have gone as far as calling it an interesting experience. Not even the pile of papers she was currently producing was particularly unpleasant, if anything it reminded her of her high-school days.

If one wanted to find at all cost a silver lining then there was the fact her first report contained what she hoped high-command would explain as evidence of slavery being a common practice in the Empire that apparently ruled over the land, which with some luck it would spark enough interest to lead them to the Japanese prisoners. Simply put, Sanae didn't have that much of a reason to be angry or disappointed.

That of course didn't mean there weren't things that bothered her. For example, while the soldiers around her did act politely, ever since she set foot in the base she had become conscious of a kind of stare she was more familiar with during her days before Gensokyo, the one people directed toward anything that was either unusual or a novelty, herself being easily seen as both. Luckily those were quickly reduced as soon as news of one of the Recon Teams running late and not answering the latest attempts at communication spread, most people now wondering what could possible have happened to those soldiers.

Another thing that bothered her was that despite Yukari assuring her that at any time she could check up with her shikigami for anything said shikigami was missing and once Sanae tried asking about it using the enchanted pendant that the youkai gave her she was surprised by being answered by her own goddesses, which quickly told her that both Yukari and Reimu were currently busy with some serious matter and that Ran was momentarily unavailable but she would be back soon.

This last piece of information actually left her suspicious, especially given the expressions both Kanako and Suwako wore as they relayed to her the news. Either they were trying to hide something from her or Yukari was trying to hide something from them, neither possibility being good for her future.

As she had those thoughts she heard a short rapping coming from the door of the small room she was given as office and once she let the person on the other side in she was left facing yet another thing she found bothersome. In front of her stood one of the intelligence officers, Yanagida if she recalled correctly, and despite not knowing what he was there for she already suspected it would be something from which she would get an headache.

If most people looked at her with curiosity and some did with less chaste intentions, this man didn't spent a single moment from when he first met her without staring at her with the same intent look of a critique waiting to find the inevitable flaw in the play of a mediocre actor. Somehow he didn't buy her false identity to the same extent of everyone else and she was sure he was waiting for her slightest slip to have proof of his suspicions. Luckily his superior apparently didn't share his doubts or else she wouldn't still be there but that didn't mean that even the most casual meeting with him wasn't a stressful experience.

"Professor Kazetani, I hope I'm not disturbing you" the man in question asked with a politeness that was painfully clear was given only out of formality.

"Oh no, I was almost finished on my report anyway Lieutenant... Yanagida, was it? I'm sorry if I got it wrong but I didn't had much time to make myself familiar with all the personnel working at the base" replied nervously Sanae.

"No need to concern yourself like that, it's understandable" answered the officer in a faux-amiable tone that did nothing to hide that he was there for a precise reason "That aside I came here to discuss the reports that you already submitted to the Intelligence Division."

"You want to discuss about that so soon?" questioned the girl suspiciously "I was under the impression that first you needed to examine them extensively."

"You would be correct but some passages left me... wonderingfor a lack of better term and so I wanted to go over them with the help of who wrote them down in the first place before any further examinations. Afterall it wouldn't do if we got to the wrong conclusions because of a misunderstanding that we could have simply resolved."

Still cautious despite the officer's explanation Sanae nodded in understanding: "Alright then, what did you need to know?"

Giving her an half-smile that did nothing to ease her up, Yanagida took out some papers and began to shuffle them looking for something: "You know, I have to admit that at first I was a bit sceptic about the usefulness of your involvement but I have to agree now that you know how to do a diligent job. The sheer amount of details and observations regarding customs, superstitions and religion is worth whatever additional effort to keep you around. I'm not exaggerating when I say that you spared us weeks if not months of further intelligence work."

Despite him sounding apparently friendly and grateful toward her Sanae had assisted to enough negotiations between Kanako and the tengu to know that it was a strategy to lower her guard, so when she answered him she did so with a guarded stance: "Well, not to sound rude, but I like to think that much was to be expected, I didn't get a PhD for fun afterall."

"Never I tried to imply something like that, I was simply surprised like many other by your... precociousness would be one way to put it I guess" the man continued not sounding that much sincere if one was to pay attention "But that's not why we're here today, what I wanted to discuss was one peculiar passage from your report regarding one of the last villages you visited, a port city of sort with some mercantile installation if I recall correctly."

Sanae knew exactly which village he was talking about and that only made harder to hide her nervousness. Ever since she wrote down the redacted conversation she had with that woman she knew she was fully committing to a gambit but it wasn't until now that she fully understood the consequences of someone doubting the truth of those words.

"Sure, what about it?" she asked hoping he wouldn't notice how she had slightly began to sweat.

"You see, our language experts found themselves troubled when it came to understand some of the words you claim to have heard from that woman, mostly because some of those are completely new to them. Let's take for example the one you said, and I quote, _given the context I'm positive was either a noun or adjective indicating a group of people._ The closest thing the managed to get is that it's composed with the same root of the verb "to serve", so they think it could be referring to some kind of servants."

Sanae had to bit her tongue to not shout in frustration. Really? Of all the things the word "slave"could sound similar to it just had to be something with such a more mundane connotation! She didn't know whether she should shout or cry. Luckily the decision was made for her by the officer in front of her.

"Of course that wouldn't explain why that woman seemed to view such a word in such a negative connotation so they're still studying it to see if there could be some other meaning behind it."

Just as soon as it came over her the feeling of irritation was quickly replaced by one rejoicement. It could work, despite how hastily put together it was her plan might actually work afterall! She knew exactly what her next report to Gensokyo would be about and she couldn't wait to make it.

"However I personally can't help but wonder about the reliability of this piece of information given the circumstances in which it was obtained" Yanagida added, quickly bringing the girl out of her musings.

"Why would you think that?" she asked in apprehension.

"Believe me, it's not that I doubt your work" he said, something that Sanae highly doubted to be true "But from your report your conversation happened in the middle of a market that I understand to have been quite busy at the moment, using a language we're still learning to use properly, so it's not unthinkable to fear some mistakes or misunderstandings might have happened at some point and completely distort the meaning of some words."

"That's some sound reasoning" Sanae had to concede despite fearing what he was hinting at "But I'm confident that both what I said and what I heard was free of such mistakes."

"That might be but it's still just your opinion as human being and unfortunately that's not something with the degree of reliability we need in our field of work. Do understand, I'm doing this also for your sake, whatever intelligence we get from that report would be equally considered to be of your responsibility, it would only hurt your reputation if it turned out to be wrong."

The girl was beginning to feel cornered, if she did nothing there was the risk the whole gambit would be moot but what she could do that would validate any further her report ran the risk to expose her. She felt between a rock and an hard place and she was sure this was the intention of the intelligence officer in front of her from the beginning.

"Of course it would not have been such a problem if our language skills were more advanced but as it stands right now these troubles were inevitable." said man added and this time Sanae took notice of an almost imperceptible curling upward of his lips.

He was smiling. He couldn't know but maybe he suspected it nonetheless. She had no idea how he came to that conclusion but he had to at least suspect that she was holding back on her knowledge of the Special Region tongue, that must have been the whole point of the charade he made her go through. Surprisingly instead of worrying her this discovery made her feel at ease. She finally knew his motivation and what he was aiming at, now there was no way he could blindside her again.

"I think I'll insist for it to be still examined properly then."

"I'm sorry?" asked the officer in confusion.

"I would still like for my report to be thoroughly examined as it was clearly decided in the first place" Sanae replied evenly.

Yanagida seemed to be thinking over those words for a few moments before he argued: "I understand that your pride as a scientist makes you compelled to defend your work, but I still think the more rational choice..."

"Not to be rude but you seem to be missing the point" the girl cut him off with surprising determination "I was under the impression that I was to be a consultant for the JSDF over matters you still don't understand."

"That much is true but I still fail to see how..."

"Then my suggestion as both a scientist _and_ a consultant is that further research over what information I brought you would be beneficial to the mission of the JSDF in the Special Region and as such I would _strongly_ recommend against your suggestion" she said with a finality that didn't admitted replies.

Despite this Yanagida seemed to be fighting against his flabbergasted expression to voice a reply but Sanae left him no time to do so: "I know you're worried about the possibility of me being wrong, that's why I want to take full responsibility over this choice, if it turns out I sent you on a wild goose chase you're free to say so to whoever will question you or your division. That being said, is that all? I still have quite a load of work to finish and I don't want to leave you or your superiors waiting."

The man seemed to be going through a lot of internal struggle if his ever changing expression was anything to go by, until he finally set to a neutral face and spoke in an even more neutral tone: "Very well, I still think this is a bad idea but I will follow your suggestion regardless. I just hope you know what you're doing Professor Kazetani."

With that he turned around and left the room, leaving behind a girl with an unreadable expression over her face.

Once she was sure he was far enough she slumped in her chair and took a deep breath of air. This was by far the most stressful confrontation she ever had to go through and she had been scared of failing to impose herself or some other bad turn of events up to the very end of the exchange. She always thought Kanako lessons about politics and conversational skills were a waste, especially when in Gensokyo most arguments were won by who had the fastest draw. She felt like she was bound to apologize for ever doubting her goddess teachings.

Feeling too drained to spend anymore time on those papers she decided that a short walk around the base would ease her mind and so she got out of her "office" in short order and found herself on the road outside the living quarters.

Some soldier were walking around going to or returning from whatever tasks they were doing and some of them gave her a quick glance before moving on, only a few nodding in acknowledgement to her presence or even giving her a brief greeting. A couple of time she thought she recognized some of the faces but with how little time she had spent there and with how few people she met she couldn't be sure.

As she walked around she noticed how the weather was much warmer there than it was in Japan, if that was what it was like during the whole year or if it simply was a different season than Earth she didn't know. What she knew was that she had to almost immediately discard her heavier clothes and even now she was just wearing a simple white blouse along with her jeans, a welcome change from her usual shrine maiden attire.

Another thing she had come to realize during those few days was that there was an obvious shift in the hours of the day, probably not that different from what one would experience during a long travel back on Earth, so she still had to fight the sleepiness that told her that on the other side of the Gate was probably night already. She stretched her arms over her head, unknowingly making the fabric of her blouse cling closer to her body for the hidden joy of some men passing by, and wondered if this was what jet lag felt like.

While she was wandering aimlessly around the base she noticed in the distance a gathering of soldiers near one of the entrances and saw even more soldiers walking there to join them. Curious as to what was going on she stopped the closest one: "Excuse me, why are you all gathering there? Did something happened?"

The man turned to her and after a brief flash of recognition he answered: "You do know how Recon Team 3 had been missing and didn't answer any attempt at communication, right? Well, seems like they're back _and_ , hear this out, they say they fought a dragon!"

"A dragon?" asked Sanae flabbergasted by the news.

"I know it sounds strange but that's what they claim. Never thought I'll see the day when an heavy weapon expert is treated like a celebrity but God knows if I wouldn't enjoy this kind of fame just like the guy" the soldier said before he added almost as an afterthought "Oh, apparently they also brought along some refuges, I don't know how command will take this but if I were you I'd take a look while I still can."

While the soldier kept walking forward Sanae was left wondering what to make of what she just learned. They already knew that magic and other "mythological" elements existed in the Special Region but to think dragons were one of them... They obviously weren't the same kind of dragon she heard of in Gensokyo if some soldier had been able to fight off one of them but that didn't mean learning more about this wouldn't be useful. Besides there were still those refuges, more people to question about what she was looking for was always a welcomed gift. She also supposed that it would only be in character for her cover identity to be curious about this and so she too began walking toward the growing crowd of people.

As she was nearing the entrance she began feeling a faint disturbance in the air, almost like a ripple spreading on a lake surface. At first she didn't pay much attention to it, the Special Region was still a land of magic so getting a few magical disturbances every now and then was a given, but as she moved forward the feeling not only seemed to be growing stronger, it also seemed to be coagulating into more than one source. She stopped short of an hundred meters from the entrance as she finally understood that what she felt wasn't a distant echo of magic.

Three people, each one with a different kind of signature, each one of different strength.

One was soft spoken, almost submitted, and yet with a wild and unrefined touch to it, almost as a gentle breeze or a light drizzle. It also felt strained, flickering in and out of control, as if oppressed by an heavy weight. She would have thought of a youkai but it felt too different to be one. It was an unknown.

One was bright, yet not blinding, straightened and schooled into perfection, as much as it could be obtained outside of divinity, a disciplined mind showing behind an orderly structure, crystalline in its order. It also felt eager and outgoing, manifestation of a young soul quickly hidden behind a facade of stillness, almost as if afraid to break the perfection it achieved. A magician, not the youkai kind, and definitely tamer than Marisa, both in power and attitude.

One was dark, ominously so, chaotic and violent, yet capable of elegance and beauty, capable of inspiring the same morbid fascination of looking at one own house being devoured by the blazing inferno of a wildfire. Despite how much she wanted to think of it as a youkai she could still feel the flicker of perfection that belonged only to gods, diluted through its essence in a way she was oddly familiar with. This last one was the closest thing to herself she had ever felt.

She doubted anyone else there knew what Recon Team 3 had brought back to base but the only thing she cared at the moment was that whoever those three people were they were bad news for her. Magic, no matter of what kind, was like a melody that only a trained ear could hear. If she managed to hear theirs she had no doubt they would hear hers in the deafening silence that surrounded them.

Things has suddenly gotten much more complicated and she didn't think the rest of her "team" would be happy about it either.

* * *

The last days had been anything but ordinary for Lelei La Lalena. First there was the awakening of the Fire Dragon, fifty years earlier than it was supposed to, and the consequent escape from its hunting ground. Then she met the Men in Green, soldiers that did not act like soldiers would and that seemed to possess a great deal of magical artifacts she couldn't even begin to understand how they could work. Somewhere along the travel the Apostle of Emroy herself had decided to join their caravan, probably out of boredom if she had to take a guess, and finally there was the attack from the Fire Dragon.

Many things from that attack weren't what she expected to see, the Dragon itself being surprisingly one of them. One thing all the fearful tales of those who survived it agreed one was its aspect, which was said to be equally majestic and terrifying. The creature that showed in front of them wouldn't have looked out of place between the columns of defeated Imperial soldiers that returned from Alnus Hill.

The scales that had been said to be indestructible were broken and shattered just like old pottery, the wings which were supposed to turn the day into night were ragged as the clothes of a beggar and instead of the imperious stance it was said to be carrying at all time it flapped awkwardly until he reached them and stumbled once it landed, all traces of predatory grace lost in those few moments.

That didn't mean that he was any less dangerous, even a grounded wyvern was still very much capable of killing a man with ease and a Fire Dragon was much more threatening than a wyvern. However it was probably because of its look that Lelei wasn't as surprised as she should have been once the Men in Green managed to not only divert its attention from the caravan but they even managed to wound it not once but three times.

First they took off its arm, although that was with some help from the Apostle and only after they brought out a menacing looking rod of iron. Then one of the iron staff fixed on the roof of their carriage struck it enough time on a patch of skin on its neck that almost lost all of its scales to actually make it bleed, which in turn caused it to stumble as it tried to take off to escape, giving the Men in Green enough time to use again the rod of iron against the Dragon. This time they hit the creature as it was already flying away, striking it in the middle of its left wing snapping it in half and leaving the Dragon to try to glide away to safety, only to crash on the cliffs surrounding the valley they were travelling through.

In the end it still managed to escape but Lelei didn't doubt that the fame of the Men in Green would only grow after such an unprecedented success. After burying a surprisingly low amount of deads they even offered to bring back to their base those who had nowhere else to go as refuges, again without asking nothing in return, and now they finally stopped in front of one of the entrances, the leader of the group, Itami from what she had learned, going inside to converse with his superiors.

Some time had already passed and aside from some children wandering around most of the other refuges seemed content to stay inside those strange horseless carriage, waiting for whatever was to come of them. She spent that time trying to converse with some of those soldiers but unfortunately despite their best efforts their knowledge of the local tongue was sorely lacking. She still manage to learn that apparently none of them or anyone else from their army was a mage and that all of their weapons were simply the result of technology. To her it was still a strange concept but after what she witnessed in those days she felt much more open to believe it.

She brushed a lock of blue hair away from her face and noticed how the group of soldiers looking at them seemed to have grown even more. Were they really such an unusual sight to those men? She could understand the Apostle and elves were very reclusive but she couldn't imagine how anything about her could cause many of that crowd to whisper between themselves everytime they looked at her.

As she made to walk once again toward one of the other carriages she felt something tugging at the back of her mind. She froze immediately and turned around trying to locate the direction from which this feeling came but she could only make it out to be beyond the crowd of people she could see. Almost as soon as she felt it the feeling was gone but she had enough time to recognize some sort of familiarity.

Turning to the closest soldier she asked: "Excuse me? I thought your people didn't use magic."

The young man seemed to be troubled as he tried to understand what she just asked until he simply uttered a few words in response: "No, we no magic."

She tried to insist but each time she always got the same answer. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't detect any attempt of deceive coming from the soldier. Could they actually not know they had a magic user in their ranks? Or perhaps it was a spy of the Empire already infiltrated in their base?

She turned toward the elf still wrapped in blankets and she was disappointed to find she still seemed to be as spaced out as before. She should have expected it, it was clear that being the last survivor of her village shook her to her core and Lelei doubted she would have noticed a magic user if he was to walk straight into her.

"Oh, so you noticed too? Glad to know I'm not just getting paranoid."

She recognized immediately the voice coming from behind her and turning around only confirmed her fear. Standing there was a bewitchingly beautiful girl apparently in her early teens wearing a black dress full of lace and ribbons but what really stood out was the obscenely huge halberd she held in her hand. She was looking at her with blood red eyes framed by her long raven hairs and the smirk on her face did nothing to make Lelei feel any more at ease.

"I'm... I'm sorry?" she managed to ask despite the dread of being face to face with Rory the Reaper.

"Oh, don't be modest, you felt it too right? Someone else here knows magic and nobody seems to be the wiser about it." She quickly glanced at Lelei's carriage, where an old man was resting before turning again to the young mage: "Well, he probably could but old age can get even the best of us."

Feeling as if feigning ignorance would only anger the Apostle the young girl finally admitted: "O-Only for a moment, but it was unmistakable. The Men in Green have a magic user in their midst."

The Apostle nodded in satisfaction before she asked again: "Did you managed to also understand what kind of magic it was?"

This time Lelei frowned in concentration, for as long as she felt it the magical signature was a clear one but it was too brief and too undefined to precisely pinpoint anything about it. "It felt unrestrained, joyful and wishful, but also capable of great feat of strength" she finally said after a while "Spirit magic specialized in wind spirits perhaps?"

This time the raven haired girl looked somewhat condescending as she answered her: "Yes, it definitely was related to the wind however claiming it was spirit magic would be selling it short. It was much more complex than that, almost similar to what being near another Apostle or even a God would feel like."

Despite her best effort Lelei paled at the revelation: "Are you saying the Men in Green have an Apostle amongst them?" That would certainly explain why common soldiers wouldn't know about it, perhaps it was a secret weapon intended to be used only against the greatest of threats.

"Oh no, I said it was similar not the same as an Apostle" Rory corrected her "To be honest, I have no idea what it might be and that's saying a lot."

She then proceeded to smile in a way that made the young mage shiver: "Oh, we just arrived here and these men already have such a nice secret. Things definitely look to be interesting for us."

On that Lelei had to agree, whether it would be a good thing or not however, she did not know.

* * *

 **A.N. I'll never die! Ahem, sorry for the wait, i think you know already what's going on by now so let's skip it and say that more frequent updates are becoming increasingly difficult. So this chapter, finally getting into the thick of this crossover, aren't we? I have to admit that there was a scene that i plan to use next chapter that would have been part of this one, then i took a look at the words count and i decided that it wasn't my brightest idea. I'm a bit worried by the whole "aura-thingie" i did here, especially because it ties deeply with the characters themselves and how i see them, but i hope no one will kill me for that. What's next? Oh right, i hope you found yourselves something to do in between updates, if i may be so bold to make a suggestion try out some doujin games, Labyrinth of Touhou 2 is a fantastic game in my humble opinion... until examining a rock doesn't crash the game thanks to a bug. That being said, thank you so much for the support, this goes without saying for all of you new people, until next time have a good time. See ya!**


	11. Today Will Be Trouble, Yesterday Was Not

There were many things General Hazama didn't want to have to deal with. For starters he would have gladly done well without this mission in the Special Region, guiding a self-defense force into what could become a full blown war was not on the list of his ambitions, unlike some politicians back in Japan. Then he could also have gladly renounced to have to deal with a group of refuges, one of which was apparently an high religious figure, someone above the figure of an high priestess if he understood it correctly. The risk of diplomatic backlash grew exponentially in these sort of culturally heavy situation and never as in these days he was glad they had brought along someone with experience in that kind of field.

What he didn't want to deal again with at the moment however, was another report from First Lieutenant Yanagida. It wasn't as if the man was unprofessional in his job but lately he took any opportunities to try to convince him of what at best he could call a badly put together conspiracy theory. He had no doubt that the arrival of Professor Kazetani was the spark for this obsession of his but had the general known it would spiral out of control like this he would have never given permission to the man to keep an eye out "for anything suspicious".

Apparently in Yanagida's mind a lot of things could be suspicious, from mistakes in the armory inventory to unusual passing animals sighted by guards, down to his own gut feeling of "being under control". Even the sudden arrival of the refuges was too _convenient_ to him for being a pure coincidence, or to be more precise so it was the presence between them of someone who would reinforce the professor role in their mission.

It wasn't a secret that his direct superior wanted to send him to a shrink because of his growing paranoia and it was for these reasons that Hazama dreaded what would come out of his mouth once he was done with the official part of his report. He could only hope that it wouldn't be something that would force them to send back home one of their best intelligence officers.

"Lieutenant Yanagida, do what do I own your visit?" he asked politely, trying to save appearances despite his thoughts about the man.

"Nothing much Sir, I simply have with me the latest forms compiled by Lieutenant Itami regarding the housing of the refuges. That and I wanted to discuss one of the report from the Recon Teams or to be more precise, the part of it wrote down by Professor Kazetani."

The general silently cursed to himself, never before Yanagida had been so straight forward about his latest suspicions about the poor girl, just what would he tell him this time?

"Sure, what about it?" he asked feigning indifference.

If the officer in front of him doubted the sincerity of his tone he didn't show it, instead he simply told him: "As you're probably aware what gained most of the intelligence division attention was a part regarding an argument the professor had with a local woman, born of course out of what we think was a misunderstanding caused by our scarce knowledge of the language."

Hazama knew what report he was talking about, mostly because he also heard that Yanagida wanted to personally question its reliability with the professor. In the end the girl had made clear that she wouldn't let her work go wasted and all but pretended for it to be examined with care. He was almost sure Yanagida complied only because he knew that if he denied her request any further it might have looked to be biased toward the professor.

"Despite some reserves on my part..." the lieutenant continued and Hazama noticed how tame was his phrasing "... we had our linguists work of those parts of the conversation we still couldn't properly translate and they finally managed to understand a majority of them, in no little part also thanks to Professor Kazetani impressive memory."

Despite sounding like a compliment General Hazama had no illusion that was the case, if anything it was more a subtle reminder that whatever would be related from that point onward with that report could be traced back to the professor.

"It was thanks to one word in particular that we managed to figure out a key aspect of this world... social ladder if you want to call it that" he added while offering to the general a sheet of paper out of the pile he was holding.

Taking it he gave it a cursory glance, noticing immediately how the most important part of the report were already highlighted. One passage however managed to catch his attention, enough to leave him genuinely surprised: "Slavery?"

"Yes, that's the conclusion we came to. Originally we thought the word in question could refer to a low working class such as serfs were in medieval Europe, but further confrontation with some of our POW confirmed that the Empire practice slavery" the officer explained without showing any kind of emotion despite what he was talking about "We believe that woman might have thought the professor was interested in buying some and so she took offense at that. At the very least this tell us that as common practice as it might be, slaves trade isn't what pass for a respectable job around here."

"That could make diplomatic relationships more difficult" the general commented, knowing immediately how much of an understatement it was. When they entered the Gate, despite the approval of the mission, people both in the political scene and outside of it were pretty divided on how to deal with the Special Region and he doubted in the little time it had passed things could have got any better. With this piece of information he was sure many new debates would be sparked and many of those that ended already would be rekindled. He could only hope they would leave him out of it for the most part.

"I can't help but agree with you Sir, however there's a point that's being raised during the debriefing of the intelligence division that I think should be brought to attention."

Hazama motioned for him to continue and Yanagida complied: "If we take as example our own world societies with a culture of slaves trading their main mean of acquiring them was through conflicts and more generally speaking whenever they waged war in a new territory. Casualties during the Ginza Incident were consistent but so were the number of missing people."

He didn't say anything else, he didn't need to, what the intelligence division was implying was obvious enough. If the inevitable report that would make its way back home wasn't going to upset some people before it surely would now.

"That's a reasonable concern, however so far it's just that, we have yet to find concrete evidence of slavery, let alone the existence of Japanese captives, that's the priority before we take any more actions based on these information. Until then I trust the intelligence division to not divulge any of this, unless confirmed these are just theories and we can't risk for anyone judgment to be clouded by these assumptions, it could jeopardize the whole mission. Did I made myself clear?"

"Transparent" the other man answered before turning to leave. Suddenly however he stopped in the middle of the action and turned once again toward the general, as if he just remembered something.

"Forgive me, but due to the importance of these last news I almost forgot a more trivial report by comparison, more of a personal observation if you will."

The general almost sighed in resignation, of course there was no way even in light of such a discovery that Yanagida didn't have one of his more _personal_ report to relay to him. Regardless he knew by that point that he didn't really had that much of a choice in the matter: "Sure, what else Lieutenant?"

The man began once again to shuffle the pile of papers he was holding until he found what he was looking for and looked straight at the general: "As you may remember some day ago I mentioned how there were some discrepancies in the inventory of weapons shipment and the one compiled by the quartermaster. Back then it was simply some pieces of equipment, so it was understandable to dismiss it as a mistake, however I still kept an eye out as recommended by you Sir and found it wasn't a one-time occurrence."

Despite all Hazama was still intrigued about this development and so he obviously asked: "Really? Did something else appear to be missing?"

"Yes, as I said last time it was simply a couple of small arms and ammunition, this time however the discrepancies are about the number of explosive and heavy ordinance _and_ some more ammunition. The same kind that was missing last time, the same in which the missing firearms are chambered."

"And what exactly _is_ missing, if it's not just a mistake on the quartermaster part?" the older man asked, somewhat concerned by the news.

"Apparently we were short of a Type 64 rifle, two Minebea P-9 and an Ithaca 37, along with their correspondent ammunition. However this time, aside from more ammunition for the already missing weapons, we appear to be short of four frag grenades, two smoke grenades, two flashbangs, about five kilos of plastic explosive along with a detonator and five electric fuses and finally a Panzerfaust. I think it's clear why I wanted to bring this to your attention Sir."

This time Hazama didn't feel like calling the officer paranoid, if the first time the discrepancies were negligible if only because of their numbers, this time the pieces of equipment missing from the inventory list were not something as easy to just dismiss as a mistake. If they truly had been stolen then it meant that there was a thief running around with anti-tank weaponry and that was not a possibility the general was going to ignore just yet.

"Do we have any proof of these truly being a theft?" he asked Yanagida, this time not caring about whether or not the man had been overthinking some simple mistake.

"This is what I found truly concerning" the officer replied in a tone that immediately deflated the general hopes for a clear answer "Despite the clear differences between the two inventory lists, nothing would suggest any unauthorized personnel even got close to the armoury. The guards didn't saw or heard anything and the cameras we installed so far didn't catch anything either. As far as evidences goes nobody entered or leaved the building taking with him any weapon without checking with the quartermaster first."

His rational mind knew that with what Yanagida provided him so far the answer was pretty simple; there had been no theft, there never was one, it was just the wild imagination of a paranoid intelligence officer at work, taking some simple mistakes as something more. Rationally speaking it had to be the only possible explanation, they had no evidence that proved otherwise so rationally speaking Yanagida had to be wrong just like he was in suspecting a young scientist to be some kind of enemy secret agent.

Rationally speaking however gates that linked two worlds didn't exist, neither did magic, ogres or dragons. And yet here he was, waging a war in another world, his soldiers having killed ogres and other "impossible" creatures by the thousands, having read reports that talked of magic as a real deal and with the arm of a dragon already on its way back to Earth to be examined by their best scientists. Lately being grounded in rationality proved to be not as reliable as it once did.

Besides he had a gut feeling about the whole ordeal and he wasn't about to dismiss it that easily, not when similar gut feelings already proved useful to him in the past.

"As you said we have no proof this isn't just a common human mistake" he told Yanagida after a brief pause "However I feel like this isn't something we can just ignore. Sure, our guards saw nothing and neither did our cameras, but guards can be eluded and as you said we still have too few cameras installed as of now. Increase the surveillance around the armoury and have more cameras installed around the base, just be subtle about it, we don't need anyone panicking yet. Worst comes to worst it will just be me being cautious."

The man in front of him seemed satisfied and immediately saluted him with more spring in his actions that he ever saw before: "Of course Sir, I'll see to it immediately."

As soon as he exited his office Hazama couldn't help but be weirded out by how upbeat Yanagida had sounded just a few seconds ago. It was hard for him to admit but he would have preferred the usually detached officer or even his more paranoid attitude over what he just witnessed any other day. The fact he had such a thought didn't filled him with confidence toward his next meeting with Yanagida.

* * *

Whatever she could have said about the JSDF Sanae had to admit that when it came to making feel their soldiers at home they were pretty good at it. She definitely didn't expect for them to have basically bath houses instead of more spartan bathing arrangements, although she supposed it might as well have been one of the many adjustments made for the sake of the refuges. She still was grateful that more reserved bathrooms did exist though or else she might have had an harder time working on her hairs.

She sighed as she moved a strand of black hairs in front of her eyes. She understood why the change of colour was a necessity but it didn't make the effort of keeping an eye out for any regrowth to apply a new layer of hair dye any less annoying. Why it was that everything in this mission seemed to be conspiring against her down to the smallest detail? At least at that hour the women bath house was empty save for herself, so as she relaxed in the warm water she could finally try to make some order in her head about the most recent events.

The refuges were a pretty big change in what she expected to have to deal with and that was without considering some of the more "peculiar" individuals. As usual she did her information gathering as expected from a "scientist" such as her, even if most of what she learned was knowledge she had already acquired during her first and so far only journey with a Recon Team. At worst that would have been just a waste of time, unfortunately there were some people that actually could pose a danger to her cover identity.

First there was the blonde girl that she learned was supposedly an elf, although Sanae still wasn't completely sure what she classified as by her standard given that she definitely wasn't human and she was capable of magic. Luckily she also didn't seem to have her head screwed on straight, which she had to admit was an horrible thing to be grateful for, so she also didn't seem to pay too much attention to her surroundings.

A whole different case were the blue haired mage and her teacher, which she didn't sense at first, both of them clearly being well versed in their art although it was obvious that the old man had seen better days. His apprentice on the other hand not only was still young and likely in her prime, she also seemed awfully curious about anything related to the JSDF, especially their technology, with such a fervor that along with the unusual shade of her hairs Sanae would have thought her to be a kappa had she not known otherwise.

And finally there was the one she was most concerned about, the deceptively young raven haired girl which presented herself as the Apostle of Emroy. From what information about them Sanae had managed to gather, Apostles were the messengers of the gods' will and as such were above even high priests when it came to religious matters. What those information didn't tell her however was that they had such an impressive divine power at their disposal and to make things worse she doubted the girl would be as naive as her look suggested.

So far she managed to avoid meeting with them with the excuse that she wanted to question the three of them individually since she expected to learn much more from them than what she could gather by simple civilians, but she knew sooner or later she would have to spend more than a few moments in their breathing space and not even Yukari's shikigami would be of much help with that.

Right, there also was the fact that apparently the kitsune was back from what she insisted was only a minor indisposition. At first Sanae was relieved when she was contacted by her and she really hoped she could finally get some proper help, so she dutifully brought her up to speed to her current concerns. That relief was quick to disappear once Ran asked her in an even tone and wearing a far too emotionless face if she could progress with her mission or if her "concerns" needed to be "removed" first. Given that those words were spoken by a centuries old youkai who served another youkai that would have made the Devil tips his hat in approval Sanae was all too quick to insist that she could pull through and that nothing or nobody needed to be "removed".

In the end Ran reassured her she would just keep an eye on her but she was quick too add "For the moment" before going whenever she went when she was not debriefing with Sanae. Still, the knowledge that there finally was someone not a world away on which she could rely, if not a bit too eager, was a welcome improvement. She couldn't help however but be nervous about the success of her gambit or be concerned as to how long it would take for Yukari to actually put her plan into motion. Not surprisingly once news of the JSDF fighting a dragon reached Tokyo the stability of the Hakurei Barrier was once again compromised and therefore the numbers of spiritings away increased. Too make matters worse the full moon was nearing once again, meaning those back in Gensokyo would soon have to deal with looking for compromising objects and lost Outsiders while all youkai of the land were on a power trip. Her own role sure wasn't easy but she didn't envied them one bit.

As she was still soaking in the warm water a distant murmuring took her out of her musings and she quickly realized that someone else was approaching the same tub she was in. Soon enough from behind a corner appeared a short woman with short brown hairs wearing nothing but a towel. Sanae recognized her as a member of the now famed Third Recon Team although she didn't know her personally but she quickly forgot about her as soon as she caught sight of the other three figures following her, the last three people she wanted to meet at the moment.

From what she knew separate bath houses had been built for the Special Region refuges, so she had no idea why those three would be there. Before she could think any longer about it the leading woman finally noticed her, prompting those behind her to do as well, and decided to greet her: "Oh, I didn't know you would be here... Professor Kazetani, was it? I'm sorry if I got it wrong but I think we meet only at your introduction to the Recon Teams."

Being finally forced to focus on the woman, Sanae struggled a bit before giving an answer that had any semblance of normalcy: "It's alright, I was just taking a break from work but on the other hand I'm a bit surprised by your company. I thought it was decided that the refuges would have their own bath houses, did something changed that I wasn't told of?"

The woman shook her head in denial before adjusting her towel: "Nothing serious, a pipe just broke and those three were the last who had to took a bath so I offered to look after them as they use our bath house. I hope we aren't disturbing or anything."

Sanae had to bite her tongue from saying that yes, she would have very much preferred to not take a bath with the three magic users from another world that could find out the truth about her. As much as she dreaded it, unlike the times at the refuges' camp an outright refusal at a time like that would have been too suspicious and given how that intelligence officer was still breathing down her neck that was the last thing she needed.

So it wasn't without doubt that she finally agreed: "No need to worry, I was finished anyway and I was just enjoying myself a bit. The pool should be big enough regardless."

There was no need to take any sudden decision, she would stay around just a little more and then leave like any normal person would do after finishing a bath, nobody being any more suspicious of her than they already were nor any wiser to the truth behind her presence. At least that was what she kept telling herself as the three girls behind the woman seemed to have recognized her from her visits to the camp and they were now looking at her with various degrees of interest.

As they all made their way to enter the tub, Sanae had enough time to look at them closer than she ever did before and gauge their reactions about her presence. The elf seemed to be either oblivious or indifferent to her "differences", but given her first impression of the girl Sanae wasn't that surprised. The blue haired mage on the other hand, despite her emotionless mask there was no hiding the spark of curiosity in her eyes the moment she saw her and only grew as she listened the conversation that just occurred which, given how she was apparently trying to learn Japanese by herself, Sanae had no doubt the girl managed to grasp the meaning to some extent.

But the one she was truly worried about was the Apostle, especially because during the length of her talk with the woman she never averted her eyes from Sanae and even now she was wearing an almost invisible smile that was nothing but innocent. From what she gathered her god domain was over war, violence and insanity so Sanae felt rightfully entitled to be wary of how the deceitfully young girl would act if she suspected her divine heritage. Knowing that the reason for which the JSDF didn't keep her under guard was most likely because they didn't considered her as a threat only made things worse.

Despite this she was able to maintain her relaxed posture and she didn't let her uneasiness show on her face, even as the people she tried to avoid the most were taking a bath in her same tub at less than a couple of meters of distance. She didn't need to be that nervous, just a couple more minutes at worst and then she would excuse herself out of there, back to her room and away from the dangerously curious magic users.

She almost didn't noticed how the woman soldier that brought them there to begin with seemed to be unsure whether or not she should try to strike a conversation until she spoke: "Right, I forgot to introduce myself, Sergeant First Class Shino Kuribayashi from Third Recon Team. You probably already know of these three but in case you don't let me introduce you to Tuka Luna Marceau, Lelei La Lalena and finally Rory Mercury, although given your job you probably know more about them than I do."

Deciding that there was nothing wrong with playing along Sanae did her part: "Sanae Kazetani, a pleasure to meet you and yes, I did know about those three girls already, their fame precede them."

The silence that followed was awkward but Sanae was fine with that but it seemed that the other woman wasn't of the same mind: "I heard you and Recon Team 6 found some pretty big villages out there, did anything interesting happened?"

She probably felt like it was her duty to try to lighten up the atmosphere, something that in any other situation Sanae would have found admirable but now it only meant that she had to spend more time next to three girls very curious about the conversation that was taking place in front of them.

"Well nothing much really, besides I doubt it would hold a candle to fighting of a dragon" she answered hoping that would be enough.

"When you put it like that I guess it's true but personally I wouldn't mind being on another team, I mean, sometimes some of the others are just so unbearable, you know?"

Sanae just nodded despite not really having idea of what she was talking about, more interested in how the other girls were huddled in a corner with the young mage in the middle whispering something to the others, perhaps what she understood of their exchanges.

"You'd think that for a mission like this they would only take the best right?" the brunette continued being totally oblivious to her lack of interest "Instead I got a bunch of weirdos that I have to go along with. Don't get me wrong there are some nice people, our medic is alright and we even have one veteran amongst us, but then you got people like those two otaku, hell one of them is our commanding officer, can you believe that?"

By now Sanae was convinced that the other girl was just venting some steam instead of having a proper conversation so she was prepared to excuse herself out of there, but as luck would have it things went differently.

"Well, I guess you'll see for yourself when you'll be appointed to our team."

"I was under the impression that so far all recon mission were suspended" said Sanae, confused by the new piece of information.

"Technically it's true but I doubt it will be forever" replied with conviction the soldier "Besides if we go by schedule we're next after Recon Team 6 so unless our next mission was changed to be something particularly dangerous you'd follow us regardless. Or at least that's how I think it works."

That could be annoying, her role was to follow the JSDF movements, that much was true, but from how the woman worded it every mission in which there was a chance of a contact with the locals was one to which she would be appointed as expert on the field. So far nothing major had happened because the higher officers lacked the information to do so and so they had to wait for the recon missions, but now that those finally were concluded there was no telling when they'd make their next move. It wasn't unlikely that Sanae could find herself away from the base and miss when they'd start to move out and in that case she wouldn't know until she was back. While it wasn't that much of a problem for Sanae apparently Yukari needed to know up to the smallest detail for the success of her plan, whatever it was, and that tied with a much more personal worry of the girl. She'd need to tell them about this next time they had a talk.

"Who is she?"

The new voice stuttered and got almost all the accents wrong but it spoke Japanese. Turning in the direction from where it came from Sanae realized that one of the worst thing that could happened just happened. Lelei La Lalena was making the first steps toward making her acquaintance.

The soldier seemed to be surprised, if by the question or by the girl's choice of language she couldn't tell, until she answered always in Japanese although slower: "Didn't we told all of you already? We want to know more about what you believe in and she's here to help us."

The bluette however didn't seemed to be satisfied with the answer: "What she do? She only asks strange things but never to me, to us. Is that help?"

The woman seemed to be conflicted about something until she turned to Sanae and asked her yet another of the worst things that could happen: "Could you explain it yourself? I'm still not sure I understand completely what you're supposed to do."

For the briefest moment the girl was tented to say she couldn't and come up with some excuse but then she resigned herself to tell the younger girl about her supposed job: "I studied anthropology of religions, that means that I know a lot about religions, superstitions and customs. I help the JSDF by studying those same things about your people so we can better understand you."

"How can you understand people?" asked the mage still scrunching her eyebrows in confusion.

Seeing she wouldn't get out of it that easily, Sanae tried to made clearer what the job was about. "You believe in many gods, right?" she asked to Lelei, the girl nodding hesitantly, not understanding how this was related to her question.

"But do you all pray to the same gods?"

This time the mage seemed to take a few moments longer before she shook her head: "No, one choose a patron god that fit him better."

Sanae acknowledged her lapidary answer by nodding herself enthusiastically: "So if I know which god you pray to and what that god stands for don't you think I could know about you a little more?"

The girl seemed to ruminate on the words for some seconds until she turned at her once again, this time a look of understanding over her eyes. Sanae thought that probably she still had doubts but those would probably come back later, hopefully when she had more time to mentally prepare herself for the inevitable interrogation the young mage would put her through.

As the girl's companion asked her in their own tongue what the conversation she just had was about, the brunette soldier looked at her with an expression difficult to read before finally saying: "Wow, you handled that pretty well all things considered."

"Well, it's not the first time I've to explain myself, it's not exactly something most people are familiar with" she answered trying to appear bashful to hide her being nervous for feeding the woman what she was sure would be the first of many lies.

"Still, don't take this the wrong way but are you sure this is really going to help?" asked the woman with a somewhat apologetic face.

"You don't believe that much in what I do, do you?" Sanae asked despite knowing how blunt it sounded.

The soldier grimaced before answering: "It's just that it all sounds too much theoretical to me to see it as something with more concrete result, I don't doubt in your field you're quite competent but this is a battlefield not an academy, I'm more inclined to think we can solve things by shooting than by having a chat about how many festivities they have in a year. The fact that you look so young also doesn't help."

"But I saw soldiers around my age if not younger" Sanae replied, irked to some degree by the last point.

"Yes and everyone treat them as the rookies that they truly are. I'm sure the only reason I didn't went through the same is only because they knew I could kick their asses six ways to Sunday" she added, smirking as she said it, before turning serious once again "You on the other hand came out of nowhere and all of a sudden we're supposed to babysit you because you'll be around doing important _stuff._ "

Despite wanting to deny it Sanae could understand what she meant and even agree to some measure. Still, the success of her mission also depended on how much the various JSDF members she would come to meet would trust her, so it didn't take long before she decided on her next course of action.

"I'd like to say I'm here just because they asked me to but that would be lying, I asked to be brought here."

"Wait, you did?" asked the brunette in surprise "That still doesn't change the fact you're kind of out of place here."

"Did you also knew I wasn't the only scientist to ask this to the JSDF?" Sanae bluffed, taking the following silence as a good enough answer "I'm not sure they had thought of using someone like me before I asked but I wouldn't be surprised if I wasn't the only one in my field of work to do so. Still, I'm here, not someone else. Do you know why?"

"Because of your skill and achievements, why else?" the woman asked, although sounding much more subdued than before.

"Yes, that's part of the reason but I like to think there's more to it" the girl replied "Mind you, it's just what _I think_ is the reason but for me I've been chosen because of my determination."

"Your determination?"

"Yes or at least, as I said, that's what I'd like to believe. I didn't simply sent them a letter to ask them to join the expedition, I showed myself in person to tell them why they should do it. I went looking for someone who could recommend me to the JSDF and convinced him to do so and once they started doubting about whether or not it was safe to let me cross the Gate I gave them permission to turn my all life inside out as they looked for anything suspicions. And finally, I decided on my own to suggest them to put me through the same training of a recruit."

The soldier didn't seemed like she expected any of what she have been told but Sanae was far from finished: "At first they thought I was joking then, once they realized I was serious, they gave their approval. They probably expected me to give up in the first week so imagine their surprise when I came out of the training with flying colours. I admit it wasn't easy but I still pulled through, just so I could prove my point."

"What point could ever need you to go to such length to be proven?" the woman asked quietly with a voice brimming with... Confusion? Uneasiness? Regret? Admiration?

Sanae wasn't sure which emotion that tone carried but she knew she had already won over the female soldier: "That I wasn't just one scientist they needed. I was _the_ scientist they needed and no matter what I would have to go through I was ready for it as long as I could still do my job."

The brunette didn't look like she had anything else to say so Sanae decided it was finally time for her to leave and she began to get out of the tub: "Well, this was an interesting conversation but I still have work to do so if you'll excuse me, I have to leave."

"I understand you."

The statement reached her as she had already began to wrap a towel around herself. Turning around she could see the woman looking back at her with a certain steel in her eyes: "It took me a while before they treated me seriously and even then most people still thought of me as a gung-ho, martial arts obsessed, hot headed girl that needed a cold shower and a new hobby if she ever was to be a "normal" person. Truth is I can't help it."

The more the soldier in front of her spoke the more she seemed to be showing some sort of determination she had kept hidden up to that moment, until she was almost feverish in the passion she put in her words. "I need to prove myself, I need to prove that women are just as capable as men even in the military. That's why I'm trying my hardest to join the Spec Ops, to become the first woman that ever managed to go that far, to prove that women, that _myself_ , can achieve just as much."

She then sighed, losing some of the tension that seemed to have filled her body during her speech, before speaking once again: "So believe me when I say I understand your drive and I'm sorry for what doubts I did have. You can't have that much determination for something useless."

Sanae allowed herself to smile. Even if under wrong assumptions, it still was heartwarming to see someone show such respect for her effort.

"Don't worry about it, as you said people never seems to fully understand what exactly someone else has gone through. But I still appreciate your words."

"Hey, I know we will probably meet again when we will be sent out, but perhaps we could chat some other time, have some more casual conversations, that kind of stuff. You seem like a good enough person to spend time with."

The girl was honestly surprised by the sudden request but it wasn't long until she smiled again: "Sure, why not? You look good enough too."

As Sanae turned one last time before leaving the room, she noticed how whatever conversation the three refuges had going between them had now ended and two people were now staring at her. One being the bluette mage, brimming with curiosity, a curiosity that now had found a new target.

The other one however looked much more severe than any other person in the room, her eyes were fixated to Sanae in an intrigued stare, a stare that however held words that somehow the girl still manage to understand despite her observer being completely silent.

"Is that all true?"

Despite Rory Mercury not uttering a single word Sanae had no doubt that was the question now floating in her head and she knew that sooner or later the Apostle would voice it to her in a much more serious situation and she would expect an answer she couldn't give.

* * *

 **A.N. This came out relatively quick all things considered but as i already said the first half was already done when i started to work on this chapter. A cookie to who can finally tell what exactly is going on. As for the second part and the meaning of religion i took inspiration from a quote, "Ask someone about Heaven to know about their life" or something like that. Next chapter is very far away, both because i need time to get back my inspiration and because of a certain festivity nearing day after day. This story reached already 120 followers, thank you so much but can i ask you to keep the number of reviews a multiple of 5 so that i can satisfy my borderline OCD? Regardless, thank you for reading this story and i hope you'll be here for next chapter. See ya!**


	12. Ordinary Magician

There was no doubt that the last days had been full of surprises for Lelei. First of all the sudden appearance of the Men in Green and the news that the glorious Empire might not remain as such for much longer, then the attack of a not so invincible-looking Flame Dragon in which the apparent oxymoron had been driven home spectacularly and finally the revelation that despite how much the Men in Green claimed otherwise magic might not be that uncommon for them. In comparison something as simple as a never heard before kind of scholar, no matter how exotic her field of study was, shouldn't have been something to lose too much sleep over.

Except it was. To begin with, the fact that despite dismissing them as superstitions the countrymen of the Men in Green would study gods with the same rigor mages applied to the research of magic seemed to be at odds with what she could glimpse of their society from the technology they had at hand. Knowing that they changed gods dozens if not hundreds of time through history as if they were fashionable clothes was unexpected in its own rights, but knowing that despite this and their apparent dismissal of their existence they had scholars _specialized_ in recording them and giving a meaning to their legends simply didn't make any sense to the young mage.

But that wasn't even the worst of it. Such an honor would belong to the young woman which apparently was one of said scholars, Professor Kazetani, which, if Lelei wasn't wrong (which she doubted), was probably more familiar with the concept of magic than her own companions. True, she couldn't detect any considerable amount of power from her but that could be easily explained as the Professor suppressing it. More importantly, despite how well she hid it she clearly was more guarded toward her and the more magically adept refuges than any other stranger, if out of fear of their potential threat or because of their possible attunement to sensing magic she didn't know.

Then of course there was Rory Mercury which seemed to be suspicious herself of the girl to some degree and that in itself was probably more of a confirmation than whatever hint or proof the young bluette could have gathered; many things the Apostle of Emroy was but easily fooled was not one of them. That of course opened the question of why exactly the Professor wanted or needed to hide skills that would have been sought after in Falmart and on that front Lelei only had speculations which would remain as such until she could learn more of the otherworlders.

Which was why she felt utterly frustrated by how unsuccessful she was at learning anything of value from them. While it was true that she still had to master their tongue and so she could have chalked it up to her lack of a firm grasp of the meaning of their explanations, she had the clear impression that whenever she asked about the JSDF technology they always held out the more important details and gave her instead just a vague overall of the theory behind it. By comparison the clearly cautious Professor seemed almost eager to show off her deep knowledge of her homeworld legends and religions, as long as she could divert a conversation from her past or her everyday life; that of course only strengthened Lelei's suspicions that she had to be hiding something, which did nothing but increase the girl curiosity as to what secret such a reserved young woman could have.

Sighing to herself the young mage continued her walk through the refuges settlement until she was in sight of the small gate that connected the main road with the one going toward the fort on Alnus and sure enough, standing close to the guards and chatting with them was the target of her self-appointed task.

For whatever reason the short brunette woman, Sergeant Kuribayashi she reminded herself, had hit off pretty well with the young scholar after their conversation in the bath house and whenever they both had enough free time they would meet and chat quite amicably about mundane things; of course given that she was still confined with the other refugees most of her knowledge on those regards was second hand at best, mostly from overheard conversation between the guards.

What did matter to her was that while the Professor seemed to be guarded each time she or the Apostle were nearby, she was considerably more at ease when talking with the other woman, so by asking her about her target maybe Lelei could glimpse at details that she wouldn't otherwise had any chance to witness.

The brunette however beat her to the punch as soon as she heard her approach: "Hey there... Lelei was it?", she asked waiting for her to nod in confirmation before resuming "So, what brings you here, looking for another chat with these two?"

The young mage couldn't help but rise her eyebrows by what to other people was a minuscule amount in surprise, it looked like her inquiries were more well known than what she thought, but that still didn't change how she would go about it.

"No, I was looking for you" she answered in her usual flat tone.

"Me?" the woman asked both in surprise and confusion "Uh... Not that I mind but why's that?"

"I was curious about the Professor, but she seems to be... avoiding me, that's the word, right?"

"I'm sure she's just busy but again, I'm not sure why you're asking me about it" the soldier replied somewhat confused.

It was Lelei turn to be confused, were they really not as close as she thought at first? But they spent so much time together, surely they must have exchanged words about themselves and their past, not that she expected to learn anything of truly note if the Professor truly had something to hide as she thought, but one could learn even from half-truths and from what she saw of her character she suspected the suspicious girl was more likely to use those instead of outright lie to the closest person she had in between the Japanese.

Still, at the moment she just needed to find a convincing explanation for the woman in front of her, she would worry later about the finer meaning of that new piece of information.

"I've heard about how you two bonded pretty well and since the Professor isn't here I thought you could know enough to answer some question in her stead."

"Heard about it you say?" she asked more to herself than anyone else, while giving a speculative glance at the two guards behind her, who seemed to fidget under the glare "Well, some other time you'll have to tell me what else you have heard, but for now I guess I can answer as best as I can the curiosity of Kazetani's number one fan."

Despite being confused as to what a "fan" was Lelei still felt relieved knowing that she would finally get some answers.

"Then again" the woman continued "I really don't know what I could tell you, it's not like we talk of anything in particular."

"Anything can help, if I can understand about what she does I can understand about who she is."

"I see you did learn something from her afterall" the soldier pointed out, probably talking about how she almost paraphrased the explanation she got about the Professor's job.

Lelei just moved her shoulders in a gesture she had come to learn stood for a noncommittal answer and whatever reservation the brunette seemed to still hold finally crumbled.

"Well, let's see then... I guess the first thing one can say about her is that despite looking so serious and reserved when it comes to work, she's actually very friendly and outgoing, not the kind of person I would have expected to become a bookworm."

The young mage patiently listened, waiting for whatever piece of information she might learn from the young woman in front of her.

"What else... She doesn't talk much about her job or her days back in school, although she kind of implied they weren't the best. But she still knows a lot about her field as you would expect from a scientist really, you just need to ask anything and she will gladly talk about it... Although she seems to enjoy far more talking about technology, that's something I didn't expect from her given her career. Well, that probably has more to do with her family if anything else."

"Family?" the young girl asked, having caught that last titbit and wondering how it tied with everything else.

"Yeah, apparently her family comes from a very old bloodline of priests or something, she was actually expected to take over the family shrine before she enrolled to university. Guess even though she didn't feel like being a shrine maiden she was still curious enough about that stuff to go down that path."

"Shrine maiden?"

"Yeah, it's like a priestess I guess, only they look after the shrine, sells souvenirs and other stuff like that."

Now, that was a very interesting piece of information, if the mysterious Professor really came from such a family, perhaps that was what the Apostle felt, if said bloodline had enough strong divine power it was possible that even after generations of neglect some of it could still manifest in the young woman, perhaps even without her knowing. It was even possible that was the reason why she was avoiding her and other magic users, maybe she instinctively recognize their nature, but lacking proper training she would simply feel an unexplained unease.

That of course was if the Man in Green truly were out of touch with their gods as she suspected and if the girl really wasn't hiding anything. It was still progress, no matter how she looked at it.

However, she couldn't help but feel like someone had suddenly focused their attention on her and despite not feeling any malice she instinctually felt that nothing good would come out of it.

* * *

Itami had to admit that all things considered his service in the Special Region felt less of a military deployment and more a field exercise; granted, it was a very long, extremely bloody and highly surprising field exercise that included the appearance of Kaiju sized monsters, but when compared to some other modern conflicts he felt pretty confident that many other soldiers would take a month of waiting to fend off an attack by a rip-off of Roman Legionaries that might never come over a day of whatever they usually were faced with.

It also helped that since the Gate was basically a two-way shortcut to Tokyo the brass felt more inclined to hand out leaves much more readily than what one would have expected, which was why at the moment he was roaming the streets of the commercial district gathering everything he would need for when the promised Internet connection would finally be established.

Honestly, exploring a real life Isekai setting was good and all, but he still needed to up his pace with anime and manga if he wanted to fully enjoy the newer ones that would inevitably pop up during Winter Season and being expected to still spend valuable hours doing his job didn't help with that. All truth being told the whole mess that came after the appearance of the Gate was such a drag on his hobby that being able to met an elf, a young kuudere mage and some sort of super-powered gothic lolita almost wasn't worth it.

Almost.

It probably was because he was so busy brooding that it took him a while to realize that what he first thought to be just background noise was actually someone trying to get his attention.

"Uh... Excuse me, Mister?"

Finally he turned to the voice coming from behind him and was met with the sight of what looked to be an high-school girl wearing an school uniform he didn't recognize, looking at him somewhat nervously.

"Yes, you needed something?" he asked, while trying to place the weird sense of familiarity he got from her.

He was sure he didn't meet her before and yet he felt as if he should know her. He wondered if she just reminded him of someone else but he quickly discarded that notion. She looked liked your average high-schooler, brunette, hairs tied in pigtails and wearing glasses. All in all she was just as unremarkable as the next person and yet he had the nagging feeling he should recognize her.

"Well, actually I just wanted to ask you something" she said with some difficulty, throwing him off his train of thoughts.

"Uh... Ok?"

Definitely not one of his most intelligent reply but he still was somewhat confused by the situation, both at the novelty of being stopped in the middle of the road like that and by the still present sensation that there was something strange going on.

"Well, you see... I was wondering if you were... What I mean to ask is..." she kept mumbling while looking firmly at her feet, frustration clear in her voice.

Well, that was something else, he didn't claim to be much of a people person but for someone to actually be that shy? That sounded more like what he would have expected from the love interest of a romantic comedy.

Deciding to help her out he asked in turn: "Yes, I'm listening, what did you want to ask me?"

Then, as if a dam had broken, words rushed out of her mouth: "You're the Hero of Ginza, right? I always wanted to meet with you and once I saw you on the street I just had to try and have a go at it."

"Uh, really" he asked, a bit stupefied by the discovery that he apparently had fangirls. Granted, the first weeks after the incident he was pretty much sieged by news reporters looking for a scoop about the man of the moment, but never before he even had an hint that people actually looked up to him.

Well, there was that one artistic rendition of how the events unfolded that went around the web for days before it was taken down, but the less it was said about it the sooner he would hopefully forget it even existed. God knew it was already hard enough when a certain doujin artist of his knowledge kept asking him if she could use it as inspiration for her next work.

"Well, that's good and all but now you have met me right?" Itami asked, still not sure how one was supposed to handle such a situation.

It didn't help that she was still trying her best to not look at him and whenever she spoke she sounded extremely reluctant, if he didn't know any better he would have thought that she didn't want to be anywhere near him.

"Yes, but well... you see, it's kind of overwhelming being in the presence of such a... great hero..."

By now he was truly beginning to feel uncomfortable, he could understand admiration but wasn't she pushing it a bit too far?

"I'm glad to hear it?" he half-asked, not sure how one was supposed to play out such a situation.

"Yes, actually, I really... hope I could meet with you some other time, since I'd like to... maybe chat a bit, ask you some question maybe?"

Oh no, it wasn't happening, he hoped it wasn't happening. She didn't have some sort of celebrity crush and tried to ask him out like he was some kind of J-Pop boy band singer, did she?

He didn't have to be hasty, perhaps there was another explanation, one that make more sense like maybe, maybe...

"Hold on a minute, did you really just wanted to meet me?" he asked after a sudden idea crossed his mind and the way she flinched gave credit to his suspicion "Are you perhaps... looking for an interview?"

"Eh?" she not quite intelligently answered, managing somehow to look both confused and appalled.

It made sense, how she said she was looking for him, how nervous she looked and she even talked about asking some "questions". She probably was working on some kind of written piece about him and given how she most likely knew about how he refused all interviews she tried to rope him into one in a more roundabout way.

For a few moment she didn't seems to be able to form a proper answer, until she finally reigned in her thoughts and replied with a rather awkward smile: " Well, looks like you got me Mister, I actually work for my school newspaper and I thought a piece about the famed Hero of Ginza would be really cool. I mean, you wouldn't mind helping out with such a small project, right?"

As he expected that made much more sense, however he still had no idea how to deal with it. On one hand he had specific orders to stay clear of every sort of journalist, no matter how insignificant, given that some of the events of the Battle of Ginza were still classified and as such any divulging of information would be considered a breach of informational security.

On the other hand, would he really be that bad to give a hand to this girl with a clearly innocent project? Many would deny it and just go with it but after the mess with the refugees he had enough of getting his ears talked off for a while and if possible he would like to avoid repeating the experience. That didn't mean however that he had to be rude about it.

So he put on his best smile and said in the most encouraging tone he could muster: "Well I'm sure we could arrange something but first I need to think about it since I'm very busy these days as you can imagine."

"I understand, would it be alright then if I gave you this for when you made up your mind?" she said while handing out what suspiciously looked like a business card.

Despite trying his best he was sure he must have twitched no matter how faintly, this was the second time some weird member of the fairer sex gave him one of those and he sincerely hoped this wouldn't turn into a recurring occurrence. He still managed to hide those feeling and instead managed to pull off the long honored Japanese tradition of giving off an air of polite gratefulness and examined the card more closely.

Now that he could give it a better look it looked less like a business card and more like a simple cut out piece of thick paper with a name and a phone number printed on it, not exactly a professional work but it still showed some care and attention for details.

"Well then, I guess we'll see each other some other time" he told her even if he suspected such an event wouldn't come to be and knowing that there were some good chances the improvised business card would end up along with some waste paper in a bin.

"I'll wait for then" she told him back while he was already turning around to move on.

If he had been even a second late however, he might have managed to catch how her face almost immediately turned into a scowling expression or at very least hear her muttering about troublesome women and how they enjoyed too much teasing her even on the job.

* * *

Few things better explained the world that was Gensokyo than a walk through the woods at midnight. If one was brave or stupid enough to be out at such an hour of night they would get a good idea of how life was before the advent of technology: the only source of light was the moon and sometimes not even that was an option, leaving every step to be a careful series of movement to not trip over some unseen root or stubbing one feet on a rock hidden by the shadows; there was no comfort knowing that those path one was following were safe because one could never know if they were anything more than simple animal tracks, let alone if other people had ever used them; most of all one lacked the reassurance of being able to call for help at a moment notice, because just like a pretty successful horror movie once said, out there no one could hear you scream.

None of these things ever mattered however to one Marisa Kirisame, mostly because her usual way of travel was to fly above said woods and also because she probably had enough firepower that it wouldn't be unlikely to imagine the monsters from bedtime stories to be the ones to call for help.

If one was to be honest it was still a rare sight to see the blonde witch out at such an ungodly hour, while much more active than her friendly rival at the Hakurei Shrine she definitely wasn't what one would call a nightbird and in her admittedly impressive career of solving Incidents the times she had to work after sunset could be counted on one hand.

However there had been something strange going on in Gensokyo lately and she was determined to find out what it was. Hell, if it turned out to be the beginning of an Incident and she managed to stop it before it even started she could rub it in Reimu's face for a few weeks and that would be awesome.

That was why in the last weeks she had put together a magic ritual which hopefully would sense any noticeable disturbance in the ambient magic so she could trace it back to the source and finally, after much Outside World junk setting off false alarms, on this night she got a signal big enough that it had to be related to the weird feeling in the air that she felt during the last months.

Even as she made way toward it however she still couldn't help but thinking about how Reimu still had to take notice of all the little weird things that while insignificant by themselves, especially when compared to all enveloping scarlet mist or a far too long lasting winter, when put together were clearly telling of something big to come. She could understand if with her being the shut-in she was she hadn't notice how random stuff from the Outside World was literally popping out of the corners, but she knew for sure Reimu at least enjoyed some star gazing once in a while, so she should have realized that somehow the constellations were all in disarray.

The less was said about the mystery of the carriage that just vanished in the middle of the Human Village the better, but with all those hints there was no way Reimu didn't get even the least suspicious, even more so considering that Kasen seemed to have made her life-long goal, which was quite the commitment for an hermit, to turn her into a proper shrine maiden.

Now that she thought about it, when was the last time she saw any of them? She was sure up until a few days ago Kazen was still wandering around her usual roads but she didn't see hide or hair of Reimu ever since she stormed out of her shrine to go gods knew where some months ago.

Well, it could always be that Yukari had decided that Gensokyo land owner had to get down to her job seriously for once and taken her on one of her "training" session, it wouldn't be the first time and after that mess on the Moon that sounded like something the Gap Hag would do. Or maybe it was Kazen who had the idea and now Reimu was spending her days somewhere in the mountains.

That didn't matter too much in the end, she was sure once she put an end to whatever was going on Reimu would show up late to the party as usual and Marisa couldn't wait to see the face she would made once she realized just what she managed to do.

While still thinking about getting one up on Reimu in their eternal contest of proving themselves the better Incident Resolver she still flied toward her destination somewhere in the outward Bamboo Forest and she hoped this time it wouldn't be like going through a maze once again.

As she floated above the area in which the disturbance was supposed to be nothing seemed to be particularly amiss and now that she could focus on it, even the magic in the air was its usual garbled confusing self she had grown accustomed to recognize as the Forest own signature. That left only a choice when it came to investigating.

"Well, woulda been too easy if there was no groundwork this time round, would innit?" she grumbled to herself before lowering herself to the ground while still muttering under her breath "Better not be nother hole in the water, been almost two weeks since I started and I found nothin but the kind of stuff Kourin would buy, my luck can't get much worse than this."

Once she set her feet down she took another look around and found to her dismay that there still was nothing overtly suspicious, no robed individual muttering spell over a magic circle, no mystical artifact rising out of the ground, no mysterious green portal hanging in the air, nothing to be found at all.

This only served to further sour Marisa's mood: "For real? That what I get for coming up with a new magical array" (she actually based it off a book she borrowed from Patchouli) "gathering by myself expensive materials" (which again she borrowed only this time from Alice) "and spent an eternity" (it was just a few days) "looking for an hint?"

She huffed in disappointment before turning around to fetch her broom: "Well whatever, guess that thing is busted, probably better off just giving it an once over and see if I can... Uh?"

Only to stop once she caught a glint of something with the corner of her eye.

Curious as to what it might be she crouched down and picked a shard of what looked to be a glass tube which had been painted an opaque white on the inside. Still baffled as to what it might be she noticed something else down the path and as she got closer she realized it was another piece of the same kind of glass tube, only this time it was big enough for Marisa to tell it used to be shaped in a certain way.

That was weird, not only those shards looked completely out of place in the Bamboo Forest, she doubted they were from anywhere within Gensokyo. To add to the mystery, now that she took a better look at the ground, it was as if someone had dragged along something big, and she meant something really big, if she were to judge by the amount of moved dirt it was probably the size of an hut.

No matter how hard she thought about it she couldn't come up with any reason why someone would want to move around something that big and the fact that this took place where she detected a pretty big magical anomaly made it only more strange.

Deciding to follow the rather large road in hopes of finding something that might clear up what the hell was going on it didn't take too long for the young witch to realize there was a veritable trail of those glass shards, which now she could tell seemed to all be close to where a bamboo stalk had grown in a such a way to cut into the otherwise rather clear path she was going along.

She also had come to notice that what at first looked to be flat ground was in fact slightly angled downward in the same direction the road she was walking on went and already she had began doubting that whatever had left those trails had been pushed, but that only begged the question of why anything that already was in that clearing to begin with would suddenly start sliding down, to say nothing of those glass shards she kept on finding.

"Perhaps the true culprit is a youkai with a knack as glazier?" she joked to herself until she noticed a piece of glass that seemed different from the others. This one looked more like it came from a glass pane, like a window, and the blond girl was left even more confused as to what might leave behind that kind of traces.

She finally reached what looked to be another opening but to her bafflement there wasn't trace of what she had been looking for. The only sign that something had been there were some smaller bamboo stalks that had been snapped and a rather large rock against which something seemed to have stopped rather abruptly if the scratch marks left behind were anything to go by.

Deciding to have a closer look at those the blonde witch noticed that there seemed to be traces of something like paint on some of them and her ever growing confusion only got worse.

"If a didn't know any better I'd say this are the leftover of an oni party, but I seriously have no idea the hell just did this" Marisa grumbled to herself while scratching under her hat.

To make matter worse she picked up from near the boulder yet another of those glass tubes, only this time it was big enough for her to recognize it as part of a kanji. Who would even write using glass and why tubes of all things? The closest thing to that she ever saw was a sign at Kourin and even then it was in western letters. Unless of course, for whatever reason, in the Outside World people actually used glass to make their signs, which would be stupid since one could get the same result with some paint.

So taken she was with her ruminations that the witch almost didn't hear the rustling of leaves from somewhere in the bamboo thicket. Any confusion or sour feeling were immediately replaced by attentiveness and a cold mind. At this hour of the night there was only one possibility as to what might be lurking around and while most youkai knew better that to try and pick a fight with her, there were always some smarty-pants who thought they might make a name for themselves by successfully ambushing one of the great Incident Resolver of Gensokyo.

She carefully moved around the boulder while inching her hand close to where she kept her Mini-Hakkero. If they thought they could ambush her then they were in for a rather bright, loud and painful surprise. With that in mind she dashed out of cover ready to aim toward the approaching threat.

And smashed at full speed right into said threat which apparently just had the same idea.

A grunt of pain and a rather feminine yelp followed, with Marisa slamming back into the boulder and her would be aggressor falling flat on their back. During the rather undignified accident the blond girl even managed to hit her head so on top of the embarrassing performance now she was also nursing a rapidly swelling bump.

"Oi, watch where you're going, people might get hurt if ya don't know how to put a foot in front of the other!" she shouted, noticing as a second thought that her hat fell off, and trying to see just who she quite literally just run into.

"As if you're one to talk!" replied a slightly more mature and definitely more annoyed voice "Besides, a human like you isn't even supposed to be... h-he-here... Hiiiiiiiii!"

Then as if a switch had been flipped the mysterious youkai started screaming and wrapped her arms around her head even has she tried to curl into a ball as small as possible.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Miss Maid, I didn't recognize you!"

Marisa felt her eyebrow twitching even as the youkai in front of her increasingly became more and more hysteric. Since when was she know to be a maid? Sure, she did joke about it with Sakuya once but it never went beyond that. And besides, even as some of her features were still not clear due to the shadows and the way she was trying to make herself small, she was pretty sure she never met this youkai, so what was all the fuss about?

"Oi, oi, what's that nonsense you're going on about? I don't even know you!"

Yet the woman either didn't hear her or just ignored her, given that she still was screaming and babbling: "I swear, I've been a good girl! See? It's not a full moon, I'm not being troublesome! Please Miss Maid, don't stab me with your knives!"

Ok, that last bit was definitely creepy, but the blonde witch still had no idea what she was talking about or what was her problem with maids and she was rapidly running out of patience. So she simply grabbed the youkai by the shoulders, ignoring how her screaming got suddenly more high-pitched, and made sure she was looking straight at her : "Alright, that's enough, get a grip already girl! I've no idea what you're talking about, but I'm pretty sure we never met before and even if we did it wouldn't involve stabbing, so calm down!"

At first the woman was still trying to hide behind her sleeves, then she got a better look at Marisa's face and she seemed to calm down immediately: "Hold on, you're not that maid! Who are you?"

Having finally got through to her the young witch allowed herself to sigh in relief, before she let go of the other woman and went to pick up her hat: "Course I'm not, no idea where you got that impression! Name's is Kirisame by the way, Marisa Kirisame, Ordinary Magician."

"Kirisame? Uh, not sure why but it does ring a bell. And sorry, but without your hat and with the moon at your back you two look very similar... well, maybe she's a bit higher... and older... and she has a different haircut, but I couldn't see you very well and I just hit my head, so I was confused okay?" she finished in a huff while crossing her arms.

Ignoring the comment about her height Marisa took herself a better look at the youkai in front of her. For one she was definitely taller than her and probably also a few years older, although with youkai one could never trust physical appearance. She wore a long dress which was white in the upper half and red in the lower one with black trims on the ends of the sleeves and the bottom of the gown and she had a red brooch at the neck. She also had long auburn hairs and red eyes but the most obvious details were the two wolf ears on top of her head.

"Hold on, I think I've heard about you, you're that werewolf Sakuya met a while ago!" Marisa exclaimed. That at least explained why she seemed to be so terrified of maids, back during that Incident she herself wasn't acting as the sanest person around and Sakuya had always been leaning toward the creepy side, she could only imagine what she had been like back then.

Her outburst however seemed to have gotten the wolfwoman a bit pale and much more nervous: "You mean you know her?"

"Well, she works at a friend house and we kinda worked together a few times to solve Incidents" the witch said somewhat awkwardly, not knowing how to deal with the situation "But back then I didn't meet her until we found that floating castle, so I know nothing about whatever happened between you two. Hell, sounds like she went through here while I was crossing Misty Lake."

"Misty Lake? Wait a moment!" the youkai said while taking a few steps back "I remember now, you're that witch that wanted to turn Wakasagihime into sashimi!"

"For the love of... How many times do I have to tell you people, I was just thinking about it!"

"That isn't any better!"

Nursing her growing headache, Marisa decided to bring the conversation back on track: "Anyway, whatcha doing here? The full moon was a couple nights ago, isn't too late to be out and about?"

"I could ask you the same" the werewolf replied while trying to regain some of her lost dignity.

"Investigating, your turn" the blond witch answered while leveling at her a flat stare.

"Well, if you really want to know, I was just minding my own business, when all of a sudden this, infernal noise comes out of nowhere!"

"Uh-uh."

"So of course I went looking for what it was and once I get here I find this big thing that looks like a small hut, only made of glass and metal."

"Glass and metal?" Marisa asked, once again focused on the conversation "What kind of hut would be made out of those?"

"Well, I think it came from the Outside."

"How can you be so sure?"

"See, one of the door had been cracked open so I managed to get inside and it was full of newspapers like the ones the tengu keep making and there were this strange thin books and other things and some of the youkai from the Grassroots Network said they find stuff like that sometimes and it usually comes from the Outside World."

Well, that certainly was unexpected, it was true that some object could cross the Barrier, that was how Kourin was able to set up shop to begin with, but for something the size of a building to make it there must have been some very strange circumstances, that or there really was an Incident going on and it was worse than she thought at first. But if that was the case, why wasn't Reimu on it already?

"Well, I see no building here" she said, deciding to voice her biggest doubt for the story she had been told.

"I can see that" the werewowan replied somewhat irritated.

"Then what happened to it? Building don't just grow legs and walk away... usually at least."

"How am I supposed to know? I just went back to my house for a few minutes and when I got back I crashed into you, literally!"

"Then why did you get back here in the first place?"

This seemed to make her suddenly embarrassed and for a while she didn't respond: "Since, no one else was around I thought I might as well take home what looked interesting but I couldn't make it in one trip. It's not like the owner would get them back anyway."

"Like what? Whatever could be interesting about a bunch of newspapers?"

"Beauty tips."

"What?" she asked not sure she heard it right the first time.

"Well, they have this things called women magazines, and some even had some very useful tips on how to deal with certain... problems I also happen to suffer."

"So you planned on stuffing your house with books filled with advices on how to get pretty?" Marisa had to ask, still not sure what she was hearing.

"Well, you try dealing with getting this much hairy every full moon, I can't even shave, they just grown back in a matter of hours!"

"You should believe her, few things get annoying for beasts youkai as their excess hair."

Whatever reply Marisa had in mind was cut short as both her and the other woman realized someone else had managed to sneak up on them. Turning around they both noticed the new person sitting on top of the boulder they had been giving their backs to and if she wasn't mistaken it was someone she not only knew, but also was quite suspicious.

"Oi, Mamizou, whatcha doing here in the middle of nowhere?"

"Oh, you know, I was just having a nice stroll when I heard a bit of a commotion and decided to investigate and wouldn't you know, it's none other than one of the infamously skilled Incident Resolver of Gensokyo" she said nonchalantly.

"That so?" Marisa asked, not believing a single word of it.

"Yes, it is so. However, now that I have the chance I'll like to extend to you an invitation to join a project of mine."

"An invitation?" she asked now more suspicious than ever "Sounds interesting, why don't you tell me more about it?"

"Well, I'll love to but I'd prefer to do so in a more secluded place" she told her while glancing at the only person not involved in the conversation, now looking utterly confused and a bit nervous at this new development.

"But I think at the very least I can give you some sort of preview, currently we lack the muscle so to speak for our operation and we think you would be the perfect candidate for the role. Besides..." she added while smirking in a way that implied she knew much more than she let on about what was going on "Something tells me that given some of the people involved you might come to enjoy some competitive drive."

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **First off i'm sorry. It should have taken this long yet a combination of hardware failures, real life and plain lack of will struck me down pretty hard. However, as this was going on you people didn't gave up. New followers joined this journey, some of you even left comments to tell me how great this story was and how they hoped i'll get back in shape soon. To those people i say thank you, you have given me the strength to pick up the pen once again and resume writing, i've written more in a weeks than in half an year so again, thank you guys.**

 **Now then, back to the fun stuff, shall we? We see things are mixing up, factions are making moves and events inch closer every days. I also finally wrote the Marisa's scene which i had in mind since chapter four i guess? That and finally pulled off a cameo of a character i like but couldn't fit in the story otherwise. Next chapter we're going to study some local economy and trade commerce, so it's going to be pretty quiet as chapter, afterall what could possibly go wrong with that?**

 **See ya next time!**


	13. Superficial Girl

There were many things Sergeant Shino Kuribayashi didn't expect from her life; she didn't expect to find herself into the plot of an otaku fantasy for one, neither did she expect to spend her days under service shooting at the rejects of a Roman themed flash-mob nor to have to suffer to be lead around from your stereotypical Akiba aficionados. However what she expected least of all was the in hindsight rather fast friendship with who back in her high-school days she wouldn't have wasted a second labeling as a bookworm. To be fair to the girl, if one didn't knew her chosen profession in life they could hardly be faulted for thinking of any other job; she clearly enjoyed physical activities, she had an almost childlike curiosity for anything related to science, she was friendly and outgoing to a degree that one wouldn't expect to find in the usually strict and competitive Japanese society and Shino had to begrudgingly agree to some of the conversation between her males colleagues she eavesdropped in that she was also quite attractive.

Once she was past how many of her expectations Sanae managed to defy, what remained was a rare feeling of accomplishment at how she managed to strike such friendship. The young professor was fun to hang around with, she was always dependable whenever Shino was in need of an honest opinion and above all else she didn't find her attitude off-putting in the slightest. Not that it meant she wouldn't question some of her behavior or suggest her to tone down her stance on certain topics, but unlike most people in her life Sanae accepted fully the traits, good and bad, that made up the core of Shino Kuribayashi as a person. In that light even some of her forward advice were a wonderful novelty, since they weren't aimed at changing who she was, but rather were said in the honest attempt to help her at being herself better.

So what if she dreamed of being the first woman in the Special Forces? That just meant that she had the ambition to cross a line other hadn't thought could be crossed. So what if she had rather proudly proclaimed that she wouldn't settle down with anyone who couldn't defeat her in an honest match of martial arts prowess? Even if her friend had admitted she found the notion a bit bizarre she nonetheless thought it was in her rights to do so. Afterall, didn't that Greek huntress Sanae told her about issued a similar challenge for those asking her hand in marriage? Shino had no intention to go as far as killing those who failed but she could agree with the spirit of the trial.

One thing she had more trouble agreeing with her friend was her advice to show more respect to the otaku trash that passed for her Lieutenant and that other idiot who couldn't shut up about catgirls. She understood the logic behind it, that wasn't the behavior any soldier should have toward their fellows, especially one who had her dreams for the future, and if it was any other person she would have probably had long suffered the consequences, but it was really hard to even fake politeness with such people. Hell, at times it was almost as if they were trying their hardest to have her blow her top.

"And I'm saying that she's at least a solid eight out of ten!"

Case in point.

When she had been informed of a new mission for her Team she had been in the middle of checking some of the logistics for the refugees and so while most of its members had already gathered at the motor pool she had arrived a few minutes late, but given that one Lieutenant Itami was still missing she wasn't too worried about it. This however meant she had managed to stumble upon a conversation between the other resident otaku and a few others, apparently with none of them realizing she was still creeping up on them.

"What is this, did our dear Kurata finally grew out of his fantasies and decided to go after a real woman?"

Now she was concerned, for all of its claims of renovation the JSDF was still very much an heavily men populated institution, so the pool of unfortunate objects of the weirdo attention was small to begin with and somehow she doubted he went looking too far.

"Look, while few things can rival the elegance and fine beauty of a catgirl, even I have to admit that she would scratch more than a few of my itches."

Was it possible for someone to mentally throw up? She was sure that was what she just did. Still, his mumblings did nothing to set her at ease, if anything her opinion about that sort of people ranking as sub-human was being cemented with each new word.

"I get it, she's still kind of a novelty around here and I admit she's quite the looker, but for you to suddenly show such interest something must have happened."

By now she was just a few feet away and they still were too engrossed with whatever they were discussing that they still had to notice her. On one hand she was close enough to let them know just how _displeasing_ she found their topic, on the other hand she wanted to find out who exactly they were talking about so she could express herself more properly.

"Ok, fine, until a few days ago I didn't think too much of her, sure she was cute but nothing too out of the ordinary, if anything I think her main charm is that she still look ordinary enough to fall under the Girl Next Doorniche, and while that can be nice in itself it's not really something that I..."

"Get to the point."

"She's a Gamer Girl!"

 _This_ gave her pause. She had no idea who he might be talking about, especially if her hunch about being someone from the Team was correct; while she couldn't say to know most of it members that well she at least was sure something like _videogames_ weren't the interest of the few that could match the description. There was someone else who they all had a chance to interact with and that could have been the likely unfortunate victim, but there was no way such a clever, nice, fun girl could have anything in common with such a loser, right?

"Now I know that's just a load of bull, no way our dear, serious Professor play games, hell I would be surprised if she knew anything beyond what the media stuffed our ears with along the years!"

The idiots in front of her were still clueless to her presence, which was probably better given the minor existential crisis she was going through. Sanae Kazetani played videogames? What next, the sky was green and the moon was made out cheese? No, there had to be a mistake, there had to be more to it that was being left out.

"Look, I know what I saw, alright? I was playing one of the older Dodonpachi on my laptop while on break from my turn with the refugees, when I got called to deal with something about the elf girl wandering too close to the motor pool. When I got back half an hour later she was sitting behind it and when I asked her what she was doing she told me she was nearby when she took a break and though since it had been left there, nobody needed it."

"That still doesn't sound like anything special."

"Would you just let me finish? Anyway, she apologizes and leave all mortified as if she killed a puppy or something and when I get back to the laptop the highscore tells me she got to the True Final Boss and made a rather clean No Continues run with just three deaths."

"You can tell that kind of things from the highscore?"

"Of course you can, what do you think bonus points and multipliers are for?"

This couldn't be real, somehow they must have known she was rounding the corner and decided to play a prank on her. Sure, Sanae wasn't your average girl and sometimes she could be dorky and maybe a bit nerdy, but that didn't mean someone she admired for carving her own way in a male dominated field of work like she did would spend her free time doing something as dumb as playing _videogames_. There was no way that was the truth and she was going to beat the crap out of those idiots for thinking messing with her like that was funny.

"So okay, she's good at games, but I still don't get what got you so excited about it."

"Dude, she's not just good, she's a _beast_ at the game! I had it for more than an year and still didn't get anywhere near her score. There are yearly competition about it where people who trained to be good spend _hours everyday of their life_ playing the game and she still would be in the Top Ten, maybe as far as Top Five, easily! It's not something you can just chalk up to beginner's luck, that kind of result requires quick reflexes, hard-wired instinct and an ability to analyze bullets patterns that speak of years of dedication. I mean, what else could she have done to be that good, spent her free time dodging raindrops? No, she's a girl dedicated to her hobbies and that I can admire."

It was official, either this was all part of the most elaborate prank she ever heard of or Sanae, sweet, fun, smart Sanae, actually always had this hidden side to her, which would mean the world stopped making sense, because that would imply that someone as successful as her had something in common with those _human rejects_.

Just as she was contemplating the extent of the pain she was going to impress upon the bunch of idiots in front of her for trying to fool her like that, she heard the last voice she wanted to hear at the moment.

"Wow, that's a pretty intense face you're making there Kuribayashi, should I be worried you'll suddenly gain an incinerating glare?"

Ah, speaking of idiots, it looked like the honorary president of their club finally decided to show up. For a brief moment she contemplated whether or not he would make for a good punching bag, before forcing herself, once again, to follow her friend advice and at least pretend to have a modicum of respect for her Lieutenant.

"No Sir, just trying to guess if Kurata will be in need of a shrink given that by the nonsense he's spouting he's clearly _out of his mind_."

"Uh, sure, if you think so I guess you could discuss it further with someone from the medical division."

His quota of inspired speeches probably reached for the day he moved toward the middle of their gathering and actually managed to grab everyone attention.

While he was busy explaining their mission, Shino was busy thinking how to break over to her friend the rumors she just heard and missed most of the smaller details, except that Sanae would accompany them, since apparently the brass thought her expertise could be needed.

Good, one less problem for her to worry about.

Actually, now that she thought about it, if Sanae was to join them, where was she now?

* * *

Where was she supposed to go now?

She actually knew the answer, but that didn't mean she wanted to go there now, or even later for all that she felt confident about this follow up of the plan.

Ever since the beginning she always held some doubts about the effectiveness of Yukari's plan and in more than one occasion she thought she was going to be outed or maybe she would do something wrong and make a mess of things or maybe the JSDF wouldn't act as they predicted and everything would have been useless.

A small part of her also believed that maybe she was supposed to fail in some way, which would then be revealed to be all along a necessary step in Yukari's chess master machinations, but that was probably Lady Yasaka's paranoia speaking.

That at least had been reassuring, to be told, away from curious ears obviously, that she was there in the Special Region first and foremost for her own objective and that if she felt like she could reach it despite whatever next step Yukari had planned, they would have her back if she wanted to go for it.

It still didn't change the worry she felt about this mission she would tag along with the chosen Recon Team. She understood that Italica being a main commercial hub would be her best bet both to track the slaves movement and to learn more about the Empire; she also understood that in order to gain trust with any possible source of information they'd need the refugees to bridge the gap.

But did it have to be _those three_ of all people? The blonde elf was the least of her worries given that thankfully she still lacked the mental stability to take notice of her (and wasn't that the last thing she expected to ever be grateful for?), but the blue haired mage was far too curious and as she had learned even had a rather long conversation with Shino about her past; apparently even Ran took notice of this if her rather worrying interest about when the girl was most isolated was anything to go by.

And finally there was the Apostle, which despite not involving herself with Sanae past some rather intense glances thrown her way, was quickly climbing her Top Ten Creepiest Women list, currently being just a couple of steps below Yukari. If there was anyone she would have been willing to bet she was going to be discovered by, Rory Mercury would have been the one.

The only two things that allowed her to ignore those worries and press forward were the knowledge that it was necessary to rescue her old friend and that Yukari had promised her support in case things went south. She wondered what it told about this alliance with the youkai that she got more reassurance out of a nebulous end in the future than out of her words.

"Miss Sanae, is everything alright?"

The only reason she didn't jump at those words was that it became old pretty fast after the first times Ran pulled it off; apparently her master flair for making an entrance when one least expected it had rubbed off her during the course of the centuries.

"As well as it can be before going into uncharted territory once again" she replied while mustering a confidence she was sorely lacking.

"You didn't seem to be this troubled when you first joined the Recon Teams" the kitsune replied in that calm tone of her, which almost made her believe she knew no matter what everything would be alright.

"Well, those first times I didn't have three magic user tag along, of which one seem to suspect something about me and another _definitely_ suspect something about me."

"Ah yes, young Lelei do seems like a rather curious child, but it's only to be expected by such a bright mind, although personally I think she would do well to not visit the woods the JSDF is cutting down, or the area targeted by their artillery strike, that seems like the best way to have some unfortunate accident."

"Ran, we're not killing people" she said almost automatically and winced immediately afterwords at how much she sounded like she was reprimanding a not quite housebroken dog.

"Of course not" the older youkai agreed amiably "Despite how low the chances, the sudden death of such a valuable person to the JSDF could be seen as a sabotage attempt and it would garner too much unwanted attention at this stage of the plan."

How was she even going to begin to explain to her that wasn't her reasoning behind not killing a fifteen years old girl? When Lady Yasaka first explained her that a shikigami wasn't unlike a computer she had been doubtful such an assessment was truthful, but the more she talked with Ran the less unlikely it seemed that one day she would answer to a request with _"I'm sorry Sanae, I'm afraid I can't do that"_.

"Besides, I'm afraid the Apostle would be much more troubling to deal with" the nine tailed fox continued, probably not noticing how exasperated Sanae was looking.

"You mean the girl serving the God of War and Madness, toting around an axe bigger than her could be problematic?" the shrine maiden asked in an uncharacteristic snark.

"Definitely" Ran replied rather gravelly. Apparently being immune to sarcasm came with the package of being a shikigami, who knew?

"Anyway, yes, I'm worried this time around they could see something that might clue them to the fact I'm not a researcher or worse yet that I'm capable of magic and I don't know just how seriously the JSDF might take their claims."

"I see."

The following silence was rather uncomfortable until Ran decided to open once again conversation.

"Can I ask you something, not as Yukari Yakumo's shikigami, but as your handler for this mission?"

Confused as to where did _that_ came from she replied rather hesitantly: "Sure, go ahead."

"Why are you worried about being discovered?"

Trying to ignore the sudden spike of irritation she answered trying her best not to let it show: "Weren't you listening? I just explained that they mig-"

"No, you misunderstand me, I know exactly why you think the plan may fail, what I'm interested in is why you worry about failing."

"I think you may have lost me."

"People don't truly worry about failure, rather the consequences of said failure. So I'm asking you, what consequences are you truly worried about? Please do try to answer honestly."

For a while Sanae was stunted as how to answer her, if to answer her at all. On one hand she was tempted to tell her it was none of her business and she suspected that if she were to give a generic answer or even a flat out lie Ran wouldn't call her out on it, rather to her that would be an answer in itself. On the other hand she had very few chances to talk with Lady Yasaka or Lady Suwako, she wasn't sure how many of those instances were away from prying ears and she didn't want to waste those precious moment venting her doubts and irritation. Besides from both what she heard about her and her own impression, Ran was likely the only member of the Yakumo willing to actually be helpful when she made that offer, if sometimes a bit skewed on the execution, and something in her tone told her that even as Yukari's shikigami this would remain a private conversation.

"You know how I'm here to find an old friend of mine right? I know Lady Yasaka keep telling me I could rescue her myself as soon as I know where she's kept, but this place is just... _huge_ and if it wasn't for Yukari I probably wouldn't even know where to begin looking for her. I'm just afraid that if I just follow an old trail she might have been moved somewhere else or worse and that the best way I have to prevent that is to act simultaneously with the JSDF. So what if I get outed and I can no longer do that? That's what I'm worried about."

To the youkai credit she looked like she was actually considering her words as more than an emotional rant and she even felt hopeful she might give her some encouraging words or even some sound advice.

"Before I give you an answer, can I ask you one last thing?" Ran asked her with with an almost unsettling sharpness to her gaze.

"Sure" Sanae quickly replied, trying not to sound unnerved, "I don't see why not now that we came this far."

The fox nodded as if she expected the answer, then she made her doubt known: "Are you perhaps scheming against Lady Yukari?"

The turned dark greenette almost flinched back before controlling herself: "No! How did you even came to that conclusion?"

Ran simply waved her off, almost airily, as if she just made a poor joke instead of accusing her of planning to back-stab the shikigami's master: "Perhaps that was a bit too far, but it seemed to me that you didn't even considered Lady Yukari's reassurance that your friend would be saved regardless of outcome as long as you worked for her, so you surely understand that you almost sounded like you wanted to take matter in your own hands, perhaps even at some cost for my Master."

"Well, you can't exactly fault me for not believing her" Sanae replied somewhat bitterly "Her recruitment strategy aside, she doesn't exactly have the fame of a trustworthy person even by youkai standards."

"She might enjoy mischief more than it should be proper and I admit that some of her decisions might be coloured by her belief that most people lack the level of insight to see things in her same light, but she still gave you her word and that's not something to make light of."

"It's easy for you to say so" the shrine maiden told her while trying not to sound too offensive "You have been her shikigami and direct subordinate for centuries now, if you didn't trust her word I don't know who might."

Sanae expected the kitsune to rebuke her almost immediately, but instead she was surprised to see her conflicted, as if she wanted to say something but was debating whether or not it was her right to do so.

She must have finally have come to a conclusion when she turned to look at her, a strange light to her eyes: "You might be surprised to know that wasn't always the case, in fact at one point you could say there was no love lost between the two of us."

This left her for a loop and it took Sanae far too much time before she was able to come up with the words for a question a part of her mind suspected Ran was waiting for: "But how? I thought you became a shikigami willingly, why would you even do that if you felt that way?"

"For one of this world oldest and most inexcusable sin" she grimly pronounced, as if she was about to tell she... well, Sanae wasn't going to say _killed someone_ because there was a fair chance she did much worse, but that was still the spirit of it "Youthful stupidity."

"Come again?" The words just slipped out of her mouth, such was the unexpected nature of the confession.

"You see, there was a time where even I was just a two-tailed nobody, mind you, a very promising one, but still less than a speck compared to what I am today."

Sanae had no idea where the shikigami was going with this but was still too curious of the youkai past to interrupt her.

"Back then I was very ambitious but mostly very unsatisfied with the fame kitsune had gathered over the centuries."

"But youkai thrives upon belief, no matter of what kind, why would you have felt that?"

Ran just nodded knowingly, like this was an obvious part of a script she knew would be coming: "While that might be true, you have to keep it mind that most young youkai aren't that knowledgeable of their purpose, much less that they have one in some cases, and I was rather bold even for a youngster. By that point most myths surrounding kitsune described us as either childish pranksters or as hopeless lovestruck maidens and that fitted ill with me, especially when much weaker youkai such as bakeneko where widely feared as malign spirits. I wondered where did the fear that filled people hearts at the name of Tamamo-no-Mae went, yearned for the kind of respect such a dreaded youkai had, and in my youthful idiocy I decided that I had all it took to become the Fourth Greatest Monster of Japan."

"Somehow I have some trouble imagining you on the same league as Tamamo-no-Mae."

She knew Ran had no ill will to her, but somehow the glance she sent her way had gained _something_ that made Sanae instinctively feel endangered.

"I don't know how many of the people that lived during my, shall we call it rebellious phase, would agree with you on that" she replied with a smile with just too much hint of teeth to be completely innocuous "But anyway, there I was, already thinking of myself as one of the country greatest powerhouses, when I heard of this new youkai on the scenes planning to take over the Moon. Being the hothead I was I obviously thought I would be a welcome addition to this war expedition, but by the time I found where youkai were gathering they already left, which left me quite irritated. Then I heard news that not only they had failed, but this mysterious newcomer who had proclaimed herself leader of the invasion was one of the first to cut the rope and run back home. Now, _that_ made me angry."

"What happened then?"

"I decided that I would track down the coward and made known to her how disappointed I was, perhaps rant about how I would have been a better leader and how with my strength by now we would be already be drinking sake in the Lunar Capital, that kind of stuff. Rather irritatingly however, every time I thought I had her cornered down she somehow managed to escape without even a fight, which only made it look like she wasn't taking me seriously, which only made me angrier. Until finally, some centuries later, it looked like she had no escape left. Of course I had heard over the years of her growing reputation, of how the Boundary Youkai wasn't one to mess with and of how she had become a Youkai Sage, but by that point I had developed a lifetime grudge with her and besides I thought that if she was truly that powerful she would have faced me instead of running away. So I was pretty confident in my chances of victory."

"I take it things didn't went that well" Sanae pointed out awkwardly, already knowing the obvious foregone conclusion to the story.

"To say the least" Ran confirmed for her sake, a bittersweet smile forming on her face "In the end she outclassed me just as I would a common farmer and no matter how full of myself or angry at her I could be, the fact she would win was as certain as the sunrise. Worse yet I realized that up until then she had just humored my attempts at getting back at her. It was at that moment that she surprised me."

Curious, the shrine maiden watched as the youkai expression became brighter, almost happy, as she finished to recall her memories: "Instead of mocking me or acting indifferent she praised me. She told me that when compared to many other youkai I had accomplished much more and that the reason for my defeat wasn't a lack of power or experience, but a lack of finesse. She then made me an offer, I could either leave and go on my way and be content with being impressive or become her shikigami and learn the skill to use my strengths to be exceptional. You can guess which choice I took."

When Ran turned to look at her her expression had become, she wouldn't say reassuring, but it had gained a warmth that set her at ease: "I won't drag this story any longer, just know that despite joining her with perhaps some thoughts of backstabbing her at a later date, in the end she gave me what she promised and more. Ever since then, no matter the number of tricks, of double if not triple play she pulled on others, I witnessed her keeping to her word just as many times. So, take it from someone who went through it before you, if Yukari Yakumo means to keep her word, and make no mistake about it, she _meant_ it when she told you as much, she will do so, even if in some roundabout way that would let you think she didn't have an hand in it."

For several seconds Sanae was at loss for how she should feel after hearing those words, a part of her wanted to feel reassured by them, to just believe in what she had been told so she could go forward without her previous doubts weighting on her shoulders. Another more paranoid if not flat out cynical part of her however wondered if this was also a step in Yukari's great masterplan.

In the end she had to admit that second guessing everything on the suspicion that Yukari had tampered with it in some way wouldn't lead her anywhere. That wasn't to say she blindly believed what Ran had told her, but at the very least she could recognize that she had been honestly tried to set her at ease, which was far more than her Master did, so if only for that she could trust her a little. She sighed as she finally exited her office and turned to the horizon, toward the city that she couldn't see yet she knew was probably the most important place for her at the moment. Gods only knew if she didn't need to trust in someone in her near future.

 **A.N.**

 **Alright, I'm beyond being fashionably late. I might tell you anything of how busy I was and of what trouble I had but the simple truth is that the more I work on this story the harder it gets for me to do so constantly without feeling like it's a chore. By now you should probably expect an hiatus after each chapter, it's the only thing I can be sure of when it comes to this story. I still thank you for following me this far and I welcome those of you new to this. Anyway, thank you again for going strong after all this time, see ya, hopefully, soon.**


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